


His Pawn to Play

by If_i_want_to_dance



Category: Dance with Devils (Anime), Dance with Devils (Video Game)
Genre: Depression, F/M, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, i promise it's not all doom and gloom even if that's how the tags make it sound
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2020-10-05 10:28:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 36,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20487407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/If_i_want_to_dance/pseuds/If_i_want_to_dance
Summary: Rem gains an unexpected and unwanted addition to the Student Council.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My first time posting on here! This is a rewrite of a fanfiction I put up ages ago on my Tumblr in which I hope I've improved a good deal since its first incarnation. I hope you all enjoy it!

“It could have been worse.”  
Rem’s hand paused over the paper, pen hovering. “How, exactly?”  
“They only want to replace one member of the student council, after all.” Urie twirled his rose between his hands as he spoke. “And with a butterfly, no less.”  
Rem set down his pen. “Having a human girl running around in the library will just be another problem.”  
Urie shrugged. “See it that way if you will.”  
Rem shook his head. “The student council does a good job, why do we need to replace one of our members with a girl?” Not that he had anything against girls, it just made no sense when they were already doing a satisfactory job. Not to mention Urie and Mage would be far too easily distracted. But when several female students who had formerly been in the student council had pointed out that the usual method of selecting the members had been ignored, the school administration had announced they wanted to replace a member in the usual way. This had been compounded by a visitor to the school finding Shiki in the rose garden, tearing apart the rose bushes in a fit of rage and talking about how good it felt. The headmaster of the school had been less than pleased at that particular turn of events and Shiki had been immediately lost his position in the Student Council. Trying to fix the problem with magic would have been nearly impossible given how many people had become involved. Time would have solved it, but the female students who wanted his position had kicked up such a stir Rem decided to go along with it. Dozens of students had applied to the position, but the few who he had to choose from were all female.  
Rem sighed. “Care to give up your position for her?”  
Urie chuckled. “And miss charming the butterfly? No, I don’t think so.”  
“She’ll just distract us from finding the Grimoire.” Rem returned to writing. “I want a list of the candidates as soon as possible.”

Rem glared at the files Urie had put together. They were detailed reports of the three young girls that had wanted the position, complete with pictures.  
The first girl was what every student council would want - happy, hardworking and efficient. She was also known for being involved in several students expelled for bullying in the past. Far too much backbone to efficiently control.  
The second girl was easily the smartest girl in school. Rem had once been forced to complete a project with her and found her to be a sweet girl an iron will when it came to something she found important.  
Rem tossed the two onto the center of the table. “These girls will be impossible to manipulate for any length of time.” He picked up the last file folder. “Magic will only do so much for so long.” He opened the folder to find a photo of the girl.  
She was not unattractive, necessarily – she was rather well endowed – but certainly not beautiful either. He’d seen her in the hallways before, always staring at the ground, and about as disheveled as she could get away with looking at school, to the point where he sometimes wondered if she slept in her uniform.  
He passed it off to Mage. “Do you know this girl, Urie?”  
“I’m afraid I haven’t yet made the acquaintance of that particular butterfly. From what I heard from my butterflies she doesn't socialize much. I did hear something about her being in the English conversation club, but no one there seemed to know anything about her. Her grades are excellent, though that's a recent thing - she was only barely passing anything for the first year or two.”  
“How is she a candidate?”  
“She talked to the right person and it was a very small pool of candidates who were actually eligible to choose from, despite all the people who wanted to join. No one seems to know anything about her.” Urie sat down next to Mage on the other side of the table.  
As pathetic as the girl seemed, maybe she would make a good replacement for Shiki. She didn’t seem like a troublemaker, at least, and if she was a lonely person, manipulation of her without magic could be very easy.  
But she was still a human girl who would be in their way. Rem sat back and folded his arms. “None of these candidates are acceptable."

“What do you expect us to do about that?” Mage stood up.  
“We’re going to convince them to drop it. Urie, the smart one has a crush on you. You can easily convince her to leave.”  
Urie smirked.  
Rem picked up the first girl’s file. “Mage… that one.” Judging by the list of previous boyfriends Urie had included, he was her type.  
“Leave it to me. It’ll be a piece of cake.” He vanished in a puff of smoke.  
“If all else fails, he’ll just use magic.” Urie picked up the two spare file folders. “You know, I don’t really miss Shiki disrupting our meetings.”  
“Enjoy the peace while you can. He’ll be back soon enough.” Rem checked the name of the girl who was left. Hana Saito.  
What had caused a girl who looked and acted like a slob to want to be on the school council in the first place anyway? Probably a joke. The girl probably thought that it was funny or something.  
Well, that wouldn’t last long.

Rem rearranged the papers on his desk again and glanced at the clock. One minute until four, when Hana was due, but who knew if she would be the punctual type or not. He rather doubted it  
The clock struck four.  
A knock sounded on the door and the door swung open.  
Hana Saito stood in the doorway.  
She looked considerably better than he’d ever seen her before, in the hallways or in that photo. Hair neatly arranged with in a bun, her uniform impeccably clean and pressed. Apparently, she was trying to make a good impression.  
One photo and occasional views out of the corner of his eye hadn’t quite her justice. Not that she was any great beauty, but in person and close up she was much nicer to look up close at than in her pictures. Perhaps it had been an old picture, or perhaps it was because she had actually made an effort with her appearance. She was about a foot shorter than him, with long eyelashes framing enormous brown eyes. At least cute, if she wasn’t very pretty.  
“Miss Saito, you’re right on time.”  
“You said four o'clock.” She crossed the room, her gaze roaming over the bookshelves.  
“Yes, I did.” He rose from his chair. “Rem Kaginuki.”  
“Hana Saito.” Her voice was so soft he could barely hear it. “It’s nice to meet you.”  
“I’ve called you because you want to join the student council as treasurer.”  
“Yes, I do.”  
“Why?”  
She glanced down at her shoes. “I wanted to become more involved in the school.”  
As if. She barely maintained her own appearance most days. No one that lazy would care about their school.  
Rem reached across the table and took her chin in one hand, looking her directly in the eyes. “Do you?”  
Her eyes glazed over as his magic took effect. “Not really.”  
“Is this all a joke to you?”  
“Of course not. I have to prove that I can do something - something that’s worth noticing. I have six siblings, you know, and I’m in the middle. And everyone else is better than me. I thought it I brought my grades up and joined something at school…”  
A sob story? He should have expected that. “Do you really want to do it, though? No, you don’t.” Sob story or no sob story, he had to deal with the girl somehow.  
“Not really. But I have to do something…”  
“Do you, Miss Saito?”  
The door banged open. “Where is everybody today?” Shiki walked towards them. “Is Roen here?”  
Hana’s face jerked away from his hand. Her face whitened. “Um… excuse me. I have to go!” She darted out of the room.  
Rem glared at Shiki. “I told you to stay out.” Hypnosis might not be so effective the second time. No… the second time he’d use more direct intimidation. That would scare her out of it for sure.


	2. Chapter 2

Hana stared at the sidewalk in front of her.  
One foot in front of the other. Go home, eat dinner, do homework, go to bed. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat every single day until she graduated next year. Not that she knew where she wanted to go in life or anything.  
Hana sighed and tugged the strap of her backpack. Maybe trying to join the student council had been a bad idea. Rem hadn’t seemed mean or anything, but his presence made her skin crawl. Not that there was a reason for it. Then again, she probably made people’s skin crawl too. Most people didn’t really like her that much anyway, it would make perfect sense.  
Footsteps sounded on the pavement behind her.  
She turned around to see two boys in school uniforms following behind her. Big, tall boys. Weren’t they part of that group that always hung around Nanashiro?  
“Oh, hi.” She didn’t know their names. Had she ever seen them before?  
One of them just grinned at her.  
Hana glanced around. On both sides of her were houses. Between two of the houses, however, was a walkway to the next street where she lived. Usually, Hana took it instead of going the long way round through the neighborhood.  
She kept walking. Much too secluded with two guys following her. Her skin crawled. Something was definitely off about both of them. Were they following her?  
Hana glanced over her shoulder. They were definitely both closer. And looking at her in a way she did not appreciate. These stupid uniform skirts were far too short, and hers was long on her compared to the other girls with longer legs… and smaller waists so they could fit into sizes with smaller waist bands and proportionally smaller skirt lengths. She picked up the pace.  
The boys started walking faster too.  
Hana’s heart skipped a beat. Not good. Not good.  
They couldn’t know where she lived, could they? A neighbor might help, but if she walked up to a door, knocked, and no one answered, it would be too easy for them to corner her in a yard…  
Hana pulled out her cell phone. Rinko. Rinko was at work, but maybe if she was on the phone they would leave her alone.  
An arm grabbed hers, dragging her towards the walkway.  
Hana twisted, driving her elbow into her attacker’s face.  
He let go of her arm, both hands flying to his nose.  
She who fought and ran away, might live to fight another day. Hana turned and ran, feet pounding the pavement. She glanced over her shoulder to see them gaining fast.  
She forced her legs to move faster. Maybe she should have joined Rinko on her morning runs after all.  
Hands grabbed at her backpack, pulling her backwards.  
Hana’s heart thudded against her ribs. “Let me go!” She twisted against her attacker and succeeded in pulling one arm out of the strap of her backpack. The other arm, however, became twisted in its strap, trapping her.  
The other boy grabbed her free arm, twisting it behind her back.  
Hana squealed in pain and tried to kick at them.  
Her attempts succeeded in nothing but causing her to lose her balance. She fell hard against the boy holding her backpack. The grip on her arm released.  
Her weight caused the boy to stumble, letting go of her backpack. Forget that.  
Hana broke into a sprint, an unremitting scream emitting from her mouth.  
A hand twisted in her hair, yanking her back.  
Tears formed from pain, blinding her as she spun around, scratching and kicking.  
Her fingernails caught on something soft and her attacker bellowed in pain, releasing her hair. She kneed him between the legs and shoved him, throwing her full weight against him. Hana turned to find the other boy only a few feet away.  
She threw herself at the boy, scratching at his face.  
He yelled in pain as his hands flew up to cover his eyes.  
She reached up, grabbing his hair and yanking it so far down he staggering forward. A handful of his hair tore off in her hand.  
A car horn blared. “Hey!” A door slammed. Footsteps pounded the pavement.  
Both boys turned and ran.  
Hana spun on her heel.  
Toma glared at the two boys’ backs. “Are you okay?”  
Hana nodded, her hands shaking and the fistful of bloody hair fell from her hand. "I'm fine."

“Hospital?” echoed Rem. “You sent two boys twice her size to scare her and they’re the ones who ended up having to go to the hospital?” How was that possible?  
“Yeah.” Mage lounged in his chair at the table. “Her brother scared them off.”  
“Her brother didn’t send a much larger boy to the doctor’s by tearing out his hair and another’s to the hospital after he damaged his eyeball.” To compound their failure, they apparently hadn’t said a word about her not joining the Student Council, they had immediately attacked her. Perhaps sending Mage’s underlings hadn’t been the best choice.  
Urie smirked and got up from his place at the table. “I’m starting to find this butterfly rather interesting. Are you going to try to hypnotize her again?”  
“No, school’s over and dropping out of the running when you’re the last person and it’s the morning things get made official looks too suspicious.” He closed his eyes and considered for a moment. This girl was really starting to annoy him. “We have until tomorrow. I want her dead.”  
Urie raised an eyebrow. “Dead?”  
“Or, at the very least, incapacitated. She’s the only one left. People would attribute it to the boys who were expelled. It’s perfect. Checkmate. She’s lost.” Given how this attempt at physical intimidation had gone, further attempts at anything like it wouldn’t end very well now she was aware of the threat.  
Urie shrugged. “If that’s how you want it. She’s not worth the trouble for me to add to my collection.”

Hana threw the last of her textbooks into her bag and ran down the stairs to the door. “Bye! I’m off to school!”  
No one answered, of course. All those people in the house, and no one answered.  
She pushed the door open and ran down the street. Naturally, she’d slept through her alarm clock on the day it mattered most that she get to school on time.  
Her feet pounded on the sidewalk. A mist seemed to have settled over everything. The cold seemed to seep through her blazer.  
Her head ached. Her chest seemed to tighten.  
Hana stopped in surprise. Strange…  
Her knees gave out and she collapsed onto the ground, head spinning. Her throat seemed to have closed. She gasped for air, but none came. Her heart thudded wildly against her ribs. Her lungs burned.  
A car horn blared.  
Hana launched herself forward.  
The car screeched to a halt. The door banged open.  
“Are you alright?”  
Hana’s throat suddenly seemed to open.  
“Yes.” She gasped for air. “Yes, I’m fine. Sorry, I’m late for school.”  
She took off again, running. The tightness in her chest seemed to dissipate.  
She reached the school building a minute later. A few students still lingered outside. It seemed she had made it just in time.  
Rem Kaginuki and Urie Sogami stood by the steps, talking.  
They both turned to look at her and stared for a moment, then returned to their conversation.

Rem turned back to Urie. “I can’t believe it.”  
Urie frowned. “We should have made that cloud of poison more deadly.”  
Rem glanced back at her again. “Well, she hasn’t won yet. Did you turn up any evidence for anything we could use to convince her to step down?”  
“No. She’s so utterly unremarkable that she’s never been in trouble for anything anywhere that would be enough to deter her.” He sighed. “How interesting. A butterfly who can’t see the web, and yet continuously manages to frustrate the attempts of the spider."  
“She and Mage are in the same PE class, aren’t they? Tell him to make it look like an accident.”  
Hana watched Mage Nanashiro from across the yard.  
“Watch and learn!” he called to some of his loud, obnoxious jock fan boys.  
He scored yet another basket.  
One of the other boys picked it up and threw it towards the hoop. It bounced off and rolled to rest at her feet.  
“Hey, throw that over here!”  
Hana picked up the ball and threw it back to Mage, who picked up the ball and started playing some kind of game with it.  
“Hey, Hana!”  
Hana turned to see a blond girl waving her at across the field.  
A ball whizzed past Hana’s shoulder, hitting the ground at tremendous speed.  
Hana spun back.  
Mage stared at the ball’s landing spot, a sheepish expression on his face. “Sorry.”  
“You could have broken my neck at the speed that was going.” She glared at him and walked away, well out of range around the corner of the building.  
Twice something had nearly killed her in one day, and it wasn’t even lunch yet.  
The blond girl walked over. What was her name again?  
“Hi, I’m Azuna. You’re Hana Saito, right? I just wanted to wish you luck.”  
“Thanks.”  
Luck in winning the election or in not nearly being killed again by the end of the day? Once an occurrence, twice a coincidence… three times might mean a conspiracy? No, she was just being paranoid. Surely.

Rem glared at the shogi set on his desk. She had actually gotten the position due to a lack of competition. Perhaps the overly peppy ones wouldn’t have been so bad after all.  
The game had been going so well. Now he had a useless human woman on his student council. They would never find the Grimoire at this rate. This pathetic creature would be no help even if she wanted to be. “I should have killed her myself.” Her sudden death would be too much to cover up or excuse after the school had been buzzing with the news about the new girl who had somehow made it onto the student council.  
Urie perched himself on the edge of Rem's desk, twirling the rose in his hand. “The butterfly seems to avoid our traps by pure luck. It can’t last.”  
Rem glared pointedly at him and tugged meaningfully on the pile of papers Urie had situated himself on. “I don’t know what to do with her, Urie.”  
“Well, I do. I have a very good idea that I think will get rid of her quickly.”

Hana stood up tiptoe to be seen above her brothers, sister, and Grandma. Of all the people in her family, why did she have to inherit none of her parents’ height genes? She waved at the computer screen. “Hi, Mom and Dad!”  
They ignored her and continued asking Rinko about her new job.  
Toma elbowed his way in front of her. “Mom, I got accepted for a study abroad program in New York.”  
“Well done, Toma.”  
Hana stretched even higher. “Guess what - ”  
Rinko interrupted. “And I was promoted at work yesterday.”  
“Good for you. You’ll be running the company soon, at this rate.”  
“And - ” Hana raised her voice.  
“And Hana is trying to say something, isn’t she?” Grandma pushed her to the front of the crowd, through her siblings.  
Silence prevailed.  
“Sorry, Hana, I couldn’t hear you.” Rinko stepped out of the way.  
“Well, Hana? What’s so important?” asked her mother.  
“I was elected to be student council treasurer today.”  
“Oh. Toma, what were you saying about a study abroad program in New York?”  
Hana moved to the back of the group. “Excuse me. I have homework.”  
She left the living room and climbed up the stairs to her room.  
Her knitting needles lay abandoned on the bed, a half finished scarf hanging off the ends. She turned on her bedside lamp and began to knit, sliding loops on and off the needles.  
It didn’t matter. She had done it for herself. Because she wanted to. Because…  
Her eyes stung.  
She dropped the needles onto the floor and began to sob, burying her face in her hands. Why was what she did any less important than everyone else’s work? “Does anything I do even matter?”  
Whatever. This was fine. It didn't matter.  
She got up from the bed.  
The tip of the knitting needle stabbed into her foot.  
Hana swore and jerked her foot back, yanked out the needle and threw the whole project into a corner of her room. Maybe she should go replay Lupin’s route in Code: Realize and think about something else for a bit.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did something a bit different with the formatting in this chapter, just a heads up.

Hana took several deep breaths and stared at herself in the mirror.

Rinko banged on the door. “I have to be at work, and my makeup isn’t done yet! Come on, let me in.”

“You can do this, Hana. You can be the best treasurer they’ve ever had.” She looked at herself in the mirror and gave herself a firm nod.

She pushed open the door and breezed past Rinko. “Have a good day at work.”

“Bye. Wait, are those _my_ earrings?”

Hana bolted out the door, laughing madly.

The sky was so clear and blue. She tilted her head upwards, watching the fleecy clouds float by. A perfect day for the start of something. Not only on time, but even a little bit early.

She approached the school building, forcing a smile onto her face. This would work. It had to.

Rem’s limo pulled up to the front of the school.

Hana gripped the straps of her backpack, tightening them slightly.

Girls squealed as he stepped out.

Hana’s heart thudded. It was nervousness. Not his looks. Not his blond hair, not those green eyes…

She shook her head. Not a good time for that sort of thinking. He was certainly handsome, like the rest of the student council. That was all. Natsumezaka seemed more her type anyway. Quiet and less intimidating.

Rem and the other student council members walked past the crowds of students. Girls waved what Hana suspected were love letters.

Hana took several deep breaths and pushed through the crows towards them. “Good morning, Student Council President.”

Rem kept walking, exchanging words with Urie.

She raised her voice and pushed past two of the other girls. It was loud, he must not have heard her. “Good morning, Kaginuki!”

He ignored her.

She trotted to keep up with him.

She grabbed his sleeve to get his attention. “Good morning, Kaginuki!”

He stopped dead in his tracks and turned around, staring coldly at her.

“Good morning, Rem,” she repeated with a smile.

He pulled his sleeve out of her grip and kept walking. “I’m sorry, a bug just landed on my sleeve, Urie.”

Hana dropped behind them, walking with the crowd. What was that supposed to mean? He couldn’t dislike her that much, he didn’t know her yet.

She broke into a run, sprinting for the one place where no one else ever was - the gardens.

She ducked down behind a rosebush and buried her face in her hands.

They already hated her and they hadn’t even started working together. This was a new low.

Her feet were lead weights, dragging up the stairs to the third library.

She was elected to the student council. Fair and square. They had to let her work with them, didn’t they?

She raised her fist to knock. No, they wouldn’t respond to her knocking.

She pushed the doors open.

Rem sat at his desk at the end of the room. The other student council members lounged at the table.

“Good afternoon, everyone. What are we doing this afternoon?”

None of them looked up.

“I think there’s a fly in the room.” Rem fixed his gaze on his shogi set. “Can you get rid of it for us, Mage?”

Mage stood up from his seat at the table and walked over to her. He picked her up around the waist and set her on the other side of the door, slamming it in her face.

Hana wasn’t going to lose to these jerks. She twisted the doorknob. The door was locked. She sat down, back pressed to the door, swallowing back a sob. They would not get the best of her.

The clock ticked.

Hana buried her face in her hands.

Mage checked the crack in the door. “She’s still there?”

Urie glanced at the clock. “She’s been there for two hours. I’m impressed. A shame the butterfly can’t understand the hints we’re dropping.”

Rem sighed and moved a piece on his shogi board. “She has more determination than I thought.” But she couldn’t win. She was a little girl up against four devils. “I’ll checkmate her in a week. She’ll get tired of being ignored and resign.” He moved another piece. Yes, how long could she stand being ignored by the Student Council?

Hana hid her face in a textbook. Even now that school was over, she couldn’t let anyone walking past see her crying.

The first morning, it was the student council. Now it was the entire school. No one spoke to her, not even the people who usually at least said “Good morning”. At lunch, everyone’s tables at suddenly been full. Chairs pulled together to prevent her sitting down.

She sat staring at the words on her textbook, wishing the sidewalk would swallow her whole and let her escape from the humiliation.

The teachers could obviously see what was going on, but pretended they were unaware. There would be no help from them. They were too afraid of the Student Council to do anything. Did Kaginuki’s parents donate a lot of money to the school or something? Probably. At least before this, people would have been willing to say hello to her. Now it was as if she was completely invisible.

She rubbed away the last of the tears and reached into her blazer pocket for her phone. Maybe Rinko had texted her or something.

Twenty texts sat unread.

Hana opened the first one.

_You’ve broken up the student council. I hope you’re happy, you_ ­- she cringed at the ensuing insults and checked the next text.

The following texts were all similar. Insults from people she had spoken to once at best. 

She stuffed the phone back in her pocket and pulled out her textbook again.  
  
Was everyone hating her something new, anyway? Or did this just prove it?

Rem walked into English class to find a small group gathered around Hana’s desk. “What’s going on here?”

The students scattered back to their seats.

Scrawled on the desk was a series of some of the most horrific insults Rem had ever seen, most of them crude slurs and insinuations about various things she did after school, but plenty about her appearance and personality as well.

He returned to his desk. He hadn’t counted on the entire school turning against her, but she was an enemy pawn - a piece with limited moves, but still annoyingly persistent. The sooner she left the board, the easier his task would be.

Familiar footsteps sounded behind him.

“Good morning. Good morning, Rem.”

Hana’s smile was obviously forced.

She walked to her desk.

Her face turned white. Her head turned from left to right, looking at the other students. “W-who did this to my desk?” 

No one responded, but a few people stared at their shoes.

“Well, no matter.” She took off her blazer. “I’ll just see if I can fix it later.” She spread the blazer over her desk and set her books on top of it.

Rem groaned inwardly. She really didn’t take a hint too well, did she?

Her gaze came to rest on him. “Kaginuki?” She looked directly into his eyes and called him a very rude word.

Rem raised an eyebrow and said nothing.

“Ah, so I’m not invisible to you.”

He glared. Of all the challenges he’d face in his life, this girl was easily the most annoying.


	4. Chapter 4

Hana hid her face in a textbook. Even now that school was over, she couldn’t let anyone walking past see her crying.

The first morning, it was the Student Council. Now it was the entire school.

No one spoke to her, not even the people who usually at least said “Good morning” in the halls. At lunch, everyone’s tables at suddenly been full. Chairs pulled together to prevent her sitting down.

She sat staring at the words on her textbook, wishing the sidewalk would swallow her whole and let her escape from the humiliation of her situation. The teachers could obviously see what was going on, but pretended they were unaware. There would be no help from them. They were too afraid of the Student Council to do anything. Did Kaginuki’s parents donate a lot of money to the school or something? Probably. At least before this, people would have been willing to say hello to her. Now it was as if she was completely invisible.

Hana's phone vibrated. She rubbed away the last of the tears and reached into her blazer pocket for her phone. Maybe Rinko had texted her or something.

Twenty texts sat unread. Odd.

Hana opened the first one.

You’ve broken up the student council. I hope you’re happy, you ¬ she raised an eyebrow at the ensuing words and checked the next text.

The following texts were all similar. Insults from people she had spoken to once at best. 

She stuffed the phone back in her pocket and pulled out her textbook again. Was everyone hating her something new, anyway? Or did this just prove it?

Rem walked into English class to find a small group gathered around Hana’s desk.

“What’s going on here?”

The students scattered back to their seats.

Scrawled on the desk was a series of some of the most horrific insults Rem had ever seen, most of them crude slurs and insinuations about her, but plenty about her appearance and personality as well.

He returned to his desk. He hadn’t counted on the entire school turning against her, but she was an enemy pawn - a piece with limited moves, but still annoyingly persistent. The sooner she left the board, the easier his task would be.

Familiar footsteps sounded behind him.

“Good morning, everyone. Good morning, Rem.”

Hana’s smile was obviously forced.

She walked to her desk.

Her head slowly turned from left to right, looking at the other students. “Who did this to my desk?” Her expression was utterly blank. 

No one responded, but a few people stared at their shoes.

“Well, no matter.” She took off her blazer. “I’ll just see if I can fix it later.” She spread the blazer over her desk and set her books on top of it.

Rem groaned inwardly. She really didn’t take a hint too well, did she?

Her gaze came to rest on him. “Kaginuki?” She looked directly into his eyes and called him a very rude word.

Rem raised an eyebrow and said nothing.

“Ah, so I’m not invisible to you.”

He glared. Of all the challenges he’d face in his life, this girl was easily the most annoying.

Hana curled up on the couch, listening to the sounds of her brothers running around.

The door opened.

“Hana, can you help me carry the groceries?”

Hana rose and walked to the door.

She took the bags from her mother and carried them after her.

Two younger boys ran underfoot.

“Hana, watch out, there’s eggs in there,” sighed her mother.

Hana carried them to the kitchen and set them down on the counter.

“Look at the mess, why didn’t you clean it up?” Her mother gestured to the clean dishes drying in the dish rack.

“I’ve been doing homework all day.”

“And you couldn’t take a few minutes and clean up? Go and finish your homework if it’s so important.” She slammed down her purse.

“A bunch of people wrote on my desk today,” Hana mumbled. “Nasty stuff like that they hoped I would die.”

Her mother turned and stared at her. “Why?”

“The student council doesn’t like me. Everyone else just went with it.”

“What did you do to make them not like you? Help me put away the groceries.”

Hana pulled out a bag of noodles. “I don’t know. I just showed up and they said they didn’t want me.”

“Well, you must have done something.” Her mother stuffed several containers into a low cupboard.

“I don’t know.” Hana finished putting away the rest of the groceries. Her eyes stung.

“Go finish your homework. And tell your brothers that I got their favorite soda.”

Hana retreated from the kitchen back up to her room. Maybe listening to some music would help. Maybe some sleep would clear her head. It would all be fine. Eventually. This was going to be fine.

Rem eyed Hana as she rounded the corner on the stairs.

Four days had gone by.

On social media, her classmates were ripping her apart and spreading rumors - rumors about various actions she’d carried out with various boys and girls at school, rumors about her family, and rumors about what she’d done to student council. Humans turned on each other so easily, or at least went along with the crowd. They were so easily to manipulate.

Her face had gone pale and she’d completely forgone any attempt at looking decent. Dark circles indicated that she hadn't been sleeping. She looked almost fragile, like a doll that would shatter if took much more of the same treatment.

Why wouldn’t she just give up? He hadn’t thought she would take it this far. 

Hana put a hand on the railing, her gaze moving forward to scan the stairs. Her eyes locked on Rem.

She turned around to go back.

Another student shoved her hard.

Hana’s feet slid out from under her and she tumbled down the stairs.

She fell the whole way down the stairs, landing at Rem’s feet.

The students scattered away from her like leaves before the wind.

Hana lay still.

Rem took a step back from her and stared down. Perhaps she'd broken her neck? He had wanted her to leave the Student Council, certainly, but perhaps not like this.

Hana stirred. Her hair hid her face from view like a veil as she pushed herself shakily to her feet. Her stockings were torn and blood darkened several spots. “Your concern is appreciated, Student Council President Rem Kaginuki, but I’m all right. I'm fine.” She pushed back her hair from her face, revealing a bleeding scrape on her forehead. She bowed to Rem and walked down the hall, visibly limping and staggering slightly as if dizzy.

Rem shook his head. She was going to get herself killed with her stubbornness.


	5. Chapter 5

Hana pushed open the door to the student council library. No one there. Perfect.

She walked to the table in the middle of the room. Blank papers - she had the real ones in a file folder in her backpack. Rem would have to talk to her to get them.  
She chuckled at the thought. The proud prince having to stoop to her level. He would have to notice her if he wanted to keep the student council budget balanced, since she had everything.

She went to the desk. It was her responsibility as treasurer to keep that running. Of course she’d need some of his files.

A low groan came from below her. Hana glanced down.

Crouched down in the space underneath was Rem. His face was scratched, blood glistening on his neck.

Hana gasped. “Kaginuki, are you alright?”

Rem groaned and opened his eyes. “You…”

“Yes, me. What happened?” She dropped down onto her knees. “I’m going to get a teacher.”

“I’m fine.” Rem crawled out from under the desk, wincing visibly.

“You look like you were attacked by a wild animal.” Hana used the chair to pull herself to her feet. “I’m going to get someone - ”

Rem grabbed her wrist. “Don’t tell anyone!”

Hana froze.

“Why would you even help me?”

“Unlike some people at this school, I’m not utterly heartless.”

Rem pulled himself to his feet with obvious difficulty. “No one can know.”

Hana pulled her wrist away. “What happened to you?”

“I fell down the stairs.”

“Then dragged yourself into here and hid under the desk?” Did this boy think she was a complete idiot?

Rem’s stone faced expression remained blank. “Yes.”

“I’m getting someone.”

He grabbed both her arms. “That’s not necessary. Get out.”

“What happened? Did someone attack you?” She stayed still - fighting would only make the problem worse. “Look, I won’t tell anyone - but let me bandage those up then, please. That looks painful.”

He let go. “Fine. First aid kit’s in the bottom drawer.” He sat down in his chair and glared at her.

Hana dug past a pile of papers to reach it. For someone who kept the top of his desk so tidy, his drawers were an absolute disaster. She pulled out the first aid kit. What was she   
supposed to do with half the stuff in here? “Um…”

Rem sat still while she made a clumsy job of bandaging everything, keeping that impassive expression of his the whole time.

“This changes nothing, you know.”

Hana’s cheeks heated. She helped him and he still wanted to keep this up? She raised a hand to slap him.

Rem caught her wrist. “Attacking the student council president?”

Hana froze. She tried to pull her hand away, but he was far stronger than her.

“I might have to have you expelled for that.”

Hana drove her heel into his foot.

He gasped in surprise, releasing her hand, then smirked. “You’ve backed yourself into a corner , Miss Saito.”

Hana’s heart raced. That probably should have better thought through.

“I might have to keep you here until a teacher can be summoned… unless - ”

Hana slapped him.

Rem grabbed her arms and shoved her up against the wall.

Her heart thudded with his face was inches away from hers. She kneed him in the groin.

He yelped in surprise and took a step back. 

Hana shoved him and ran away from the desk, into the center of the room. She took a deep breath and turned to face him. “I mean, you could. Certainly people would believe you, with all those injuries. But you’d have to bear explain how I hit you in the face multiple times when you’re about a foot taller than me and how such a small girl did you so much damage. And how your student council friends couldn’t manage to stop me either, despite all being much bigger and stronger.”

Rem frowned.

Not that a girl her size couldn’t necessarily fight a boy his size, but for someone as proud as the Student Council President, it could be potentially very embarrassing.

“Why do you insist on trying to join the Student Council when we’ve made it clear we don’t want you?” Rem crossed his arms.

“Why do you insist on rejecting me when you don’t know anything about me? At first I wanted to prove something, I think. Now you’re being unreasonable about it when I won the election fair and square. I earned this position, and I worked hard to even be in the running. And then when I’ve done all that, you want to take it away from me because you don’t like me?”

Rem walked forward towards her. “Sometimes, Miss Saito, we work hard for something because we have no choice. We sacrifice and we do all the right things and do our duty and everything we’re told, and it doesn’t work. And we still have to accept the consequences of it.”

“Believe me, I am fully aware of what it’s like.” A roar filled Hana’s ears and she met his gaze squarely. “Sometimes, we work hard, we put every fiber of ourselves into something, and we’re still not good enough to please people. So we stop trying, and we just drift and let ourselves stagnate. But I’m not quite ready to stagnate yet.” Not again.

She turned and sprinted out of the room.

Rem stared after her retreating back. Was she for real?

She was so kind. His family wouldn’t have stopped to help him - his father had been the one to injure him, in a fit of anger. But Rem had threatened and bullied her, and she hadn’t even hesitated. What could cause a person to be like that?  
He pulled off the bandages. Well meant, but they’d heal on their own given a few hours.

Stubborn. Did she even know how to give up? He threatened her, he had the school ignore her, he treated her like she was his enemy - and she just looked him in the eye and told him she wouldn’t back down.

He put the first aid kit back, rearranging the contents of the drawer as he did so.

And she was smart. In all honesty, she was smarter than he’d originally thought. Maybe letting her on the Student Council wouldn’t have been such a bad idea after all.

The door groaned.

Mage entered with a puzzled expression. “What was Hana doing running down the hall like that? And why was she laughing?”

And a little strange, too.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up, the first scene of this chapter involves Hana dealing with someone harassing/getting handsy with her. Just thought I'd put that at the start here for those who might want to avoid/skip that.

Hana pressed herself closer to the door of the train, trying to make more space.

Her mother did the same, making room for the people getting in on the other side.

A much taller man pressed up against her.

Hana moved as far back as she could as the train continued to move.

She tugged the strap of her backpack. Trips to go shopping always made her mother stressed out and angry - trips where Hana took a detour to get video games made her into an absolute nightmare. Because video games were a waste of time to her mother.

She’d managed to snag a good deal at a discount store - four used games for what she’d usually pay for one new, and all of them titles she had wanted to play for ages.

The tall man’s elbow pressed against the side of her chest.

Hana squeezed further away, trying to leave a little room.

The elbow followed her chest.

Hana turned to glare at the man.

He let go and switched to holding on with his other hand.

Honestly, men had no shame.

A hand slid up the back of her leg, underneath her skirt.

Hana squeaked in surprise. She caught the man’s wrist, yanking it out from where it didn’t belong. “Stop that!”

Her mother looked down and saw what was going on.

The train stopped again.

Her mother reached down, catching her arm and dragging her off through the door of the train.

“Mom!”

Her mother dragged through the crowd by the arm. “Don’t ever do that again!”

“He put his hand under my skirt!”

Her mother released her arm. “I don’t care. It’s not worth making a scene over.”

“He was grabbing me.”

“You’re over dramatic about everything - do you think anyone believes that your school is pretending you don’t exist? It was probably an accident, there’s no need for this.”

Hana opened her mouth to protest, mind whirring with indignation, then stopped. “Fine.”

“This girl just does not know when to give up.” Rem glared down at his papers. She was still at it, taking papers from his desk so she could continue doing Shiki’s job.

Urie shrugged. “Perhaps she thinks we’re trying to see just how much she wants it.”

“No. I think she’s just stubborn.”

The doors banged open. “Kaginuki!” Hana’s face had gone red and her feet were bare, leaving bloody footprints as she limped into the room. The earlier pretenses at trying to look tidy were gone. The girl looked more like a walking corpse than anything else at this point - exhausted, sleep deprived, and like she hadn’t eaten in a week. “Now, I know you didn’t push me down the stairs. Your fangirls are stupid - which, honestly, isn't surprising given they like you - and you probably ask them to do things for you, but that doesn’t seem like something you would do, so I put it down to someone else being a jerk again. But glass in my shoes? Really?”

Rem stared at her. What was she talking about?

“Glass. In my shoes. You…” She glared at him. “You’re sick in the head, you sadistic jerk.”

Rem glanced at Urie.

Urie shrugged.

“Why do you hate me so much? What did I do to you, Kaginuki? You don’t even know me, you jerk. I’m not giving up. I’m hanging onto this if it’s the last thing I do, just to spite you. I’m going to win.”

Rem smirked at her. “You can’t win, Miss Saito.”

A grin broke across Hana’s face. “Can’t I? You just acknowledged me. If you’ll excuse me.”

She limped out, waving her hand at them.

“Someone put glass in her shoes?” Urie stared at the open door.

“Urie, we did incite a schoolwide movement of hate against her.”

“Perhaps that was ill thought out.”

“Perhaps.” Still, it would be unbecoming of the Arlond heir to back down now, to a little human girl like that. Even if this had gone overboard.

“A stubborn butterfly.” Urie twirled his rose. “She’s started to grow on me, the cute little thing.”

“Not now, Urie.”

Hana stared at the doors of the third library.

If Rem was going to pretend she didn’t exist… well, he had this coming.

She pushed open the doors. “Oh, it looks like I have the library to myself today. What luck!”

The student council turned around to stare at her.

“Um…” Mage stared at her.

Hana marched to the table and sat down, spreading out her papers around herself. “I was going to give the president these figures I got and ask his opinion, but I don’t think he’s   
here. A pity, I’ll have to deal it myself.”

Rem and Urie exchanged glances.

Hana smirked.

Rem snatched the papers away from her.

She’d expected he might try that.

“Oh, the wind seems to have blown them away. Well, it’s a good thing I have the real ones somewhere else. I’ll have to give them to Kaginuki later.”

Mage stood up and left, Urie following.

Rem watched her with a bemused expression.

“Well, it’s a shame. I guess I’ll be able to work by myself for a while. Unless someone has something to say to me?”

Rem stood up from his desk and left silently.

“That’s better.”

Hana got up from the table and walked to the couch. A Pomeranian lay on a pillow, one eye open, regarding her with curiosity.

“Hi, Puppy. Aren’t you a nice doggy?” She sat down next to him.

The dog jumped into her lap.

“Aw, what a cutie you are.” She stroked his soft fur. “You’re nice, not like them.” Her eyes stung. “I thought they might like me. At least from the start. Just f-for a little while…” She   
burst into tears again, burying her face in the puppy’s fur. “You’re so nice to me. You like me. Everyone hates me, but you like me, don’t you?” She shook with sobs, her tears streaming down her face and soaking the dog’s fur. “I don’t know what else to do. I’ve tried everything, but it won’t stop. It just keeps hurting. No one cares. I told Mom and she said I was too dramatic. None of the teachers will help me.” She had never been so glad to be alone before. They would have taunted her mercilessly, looking like this. Looking like a mess. Not that she wasn’t one. “I can’t make them stop. What am I supposed to do…”

She stopped. Babbling to a dog wouldn’t help her. “Thanks for listening to me, Puppy. What’s your name?” She reached down and checked his collar. “Good boy, Roen. You’re the   
only one in two weeks who hasn’t ignored me.” She scratched behind the dog’s ear. “Good boy. I’m sorry you got all wet from me crying onto you.”

The Pomeranian yapped and wagged its tail.

She laughed – was it the first time she’d laughed since she’d joined the Student Council? “It’s a shame you have to belong to that miserable excuse for a student council president.”


	7. Chapter Seven

Perhaps, if she wouldn’t respond to manipulation and exclusion, reason might suffice.

Rem waited until all the cars in the driveway were gone, and there was no movement at the windows. Her parents were away, her siblings at work or school. Hana had “the flu”. What a weak excuse for not showing up for her duties. She probably just didn't want to show up to face another day at school.

He walked to the door and knocked.

Hana answered the door in an apron and cat pajamas. Judging by how pale her face was, “the flu” might have actually been the truth. She looked exhausted and as if she hadn’t brushed her hair in a month.

“You.” She moved to slam the door.

Rem caught it with his hand. “I want to talk to you.”

She crossed her arms and glared at him. “My parents wouldn’t want me alone in the house with a boy.”

“Then we can talk on the porch.” Where all the world could see her in pajamas and an apron.

She reddened and swung the door wide.

She led him past a narrow stairway, down a narrow hall, into the kitchen. Pots boiled on the stove and dirty dishes lay abandoned all over the counters.

“Excuse the mess, cooking for my family since they’re all out today is a bit of a chore and I don’t feel very well.” She sank down into a chair by the table in the middle of the room.

“May I sit down?”

“Suit yourself. Talk all you want, but I probably won’t listen.”

Well, at least she didn't want chit chat first. He could appreciate that, pleasantries could so quick turned wearisome for both parties when they knew what the matter at hand was. “Hana, you know I would like you to resign from the student council.”

“I got that impression, yes.” She stood and walked to the stove, stirring one of the pots.

No need to beat around the bush. “If you do, I’ll make sure everyone goes back to treating you like they used to.”

“There is no going back after this. It’s not as if I was popular before, Rem. Frankly, my popularity has skyrocketed since this happened. People actually know my name now. I   
mean, they all send horrible messages to me on Instagram and Twitter and then graffiti on my locker, but they know who I am at least.”

She took the pot off the element.

He stood. “Hana, you can’t last this forever. No one can.”

“Can’t I? I won’t lose to you.”

“And neither will I.” He walked up behind her. “Look, I’m as tired of this as you are.”

Hana turned around slowly, anger flushing her cheeks. “Are you? Are you though? Are you sure about that?”

“Then why on earth would you want to be on my student council?”

“It’s the principle of the thing.” Hana slammed down the lid of the pot. “Get out of my house.”

Rem leaned across. He almost had her.

Hana’s face turned green and she threw up.

Rem quickly stepped back, avoiding any landing on his shoes.

It would seem that "the flu" was a more accurate diagnosis than he'd expected.

She lunged across the room towards the garbage can, leaning on the wall next to it and heaving.

Rem took a step forward and held her hair back until she’d finished.

Hana stood up slowly. “…Sorry.”

Rem released her hair and walked across to the sink. He took one of the clean glasses out of the sink and poured her some water.

“…What are you doing?” Hana’s voice croaked as she stared at him dully.

“Wash out your mouth with this, you’ll feel better.”

Hana accepted the glass and rinsed out the inside of her mouth, eyeing him warily as she did so.

“You should probably go lay down for a while.” Rem turned towards the door. 

“Kaginuki?”

“We can talk about this at school when you’re feeling better.” He retreated out of the house and stood on the sidewalk for a moment.

The curtains rustled. Hana’s face appeared, then vanished.

He’d been so close. But, seeing her so sick, after she’d helped him when he was injured, it didn’t… feel right to press the matter? No, that wasn’t it. He was making them even for   
when she’d helped him. And she would probably be easier to talk to when she wasn’t throwing up.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So all those warnings in the tag? They REALLY come into play here. Just so people are forewarned about that. Things get dark.

Grafitti on Hana’s desk had been an everyday occurrence for the last two weeks, but the flower in a vase was a new thing entirely.

Rem stared at the little vase on the table. A white lily sat in water. Such an innocent looking flower, with less innocent implications.

The students all stared silently at the vase on her desk. A nice tribute to a dead student certainly – less so to anyone who was still living.

Rem’s grip tightened around his pencil. He shouldn’t care. He should be happy. He shouldn’t care. It didn’t bother him at all.

Familiar footsteps sounded in the doorway.

Rem turned to look at her.

Hana’s eyes focused on the flower. She crossed the room as if in a trance, ignoring the stares of her peers.

She picked up the vase and examined it, hands shaking, water droplets sparkling as they fell from the flower petals. Her fingers caressed the petals as she removed the flower from the vase. Her expression was blank as she regarded the white flower.

The vase shattered against the floorboards like an explosion. Rem flinched in surprise.

Hana walked across the room to his desk, standing and facing him. “I think this is yours, Student Council President Kaginuki.” She laid the flower across his homework, drips of water from the stem spotting the papers. 

Hana walked to the doorway. She paused for a moment, regarding her classmates. “I see how it is.” She turned her back and closed the door behind her.

Hana didn’t show up to English. Or the next class of the day. Or the next.

During lunch, Rem sat next to the window. Through the clear glass was a view of the garden. Occasionally, depending on the weather, he would see Shiki down there, ripping apart the rosebushes.

Instead, Hana stood there, a bundle of something in her arms.

Rem got up from his table, excusing himself. Something was very wrong.

Halfway down to the entrance, he spotted her on the staircase, carrying a bouquet. All white flowers, tied with a white ribbon.

He followed her up the stairs, staying out of sight. Where could she be going?

Hana made her way directly to the roof.

What was she planning on doing?

The door was locked, of course. Students weren’t allowed on the roof. Hana set down her flowers and pulled out a key. She unlocked it, collected her bouquet, and walked out.

Rem walked to the door and tried the handle. She’d locked it behind herself. What was she planning to do on the roof?

Realization hit him like a blow to the stomach.

He ripped the door open, breaking the lock off, and ran out after her.

Hana’s bouquet lay at the edge of the roof, next to a pair of shoes.

Hana herself stood barefoot on the edge of the roof, staring down. 

“Hana, stop!”

Hana spun around on her heel, staring at him. “You.”

Rem stayed where he was. “Hana, get away from the edge.”

Hana slid a foot closer to the edge. “You’re the reason I’m here. Did you want me to end up here all along, Kagiunki?”

“Hana, don’t do it.” He took a step forward.

“Stay where you are, or I will jump here and now.” Hana turned, her heels off the roof of the building in thin air.

“Come down and talk to me.”

“Will it be like all the other conversations we’ve had where you threatened me or pretended I wasn’t there?” She crossed her arms and eyed him coolly.

This was no whim, no spur of the moment decision. “Hana.” From where she was, she could easily fall unintentionally. Though she probably didn’t care about that anymore. “Come down and I’ll talk to you. I don’t want you to lose your balance by accident.”

“No. Talk to me now. Tell me how you’re sorry, how wrong you were, how of course you’ll let me join you now.” She smirked, but there was no mirth in her eyes. “Appease your conscience to the best of your ability, then.”

Rem’s words died on his lips.

“I thought so.” Hana turned her back to him. “Goodbye, Kaginuki.”

Rem moved fast, appearing behind her. He caught her around the waist, pulling her away from the edge and against his chest.

Hana twisted in his grip. “Let me go!” She head butted him.

He let go with one arm and placed the other one on the back of her head, pressing her face against his shoulder. “Hana, no.”

She sank her teeth into his shoulder.

He held onto her. “Hana, stop.”

She pulled her teeth out of his shoulder, attacking his face with her fingernails.

He caught her arm again. His grip slid slightly on something wet and sticky. Sticky?

Her hands and wrists were covered in deep, bloody scratches.

“What did you do?” Never mind, he could get it out of her later. “Come on, we’re going to the infirmary.” He stood her up, maintaining his grip on her arm and waist.

“No! No.” Her face paled. “Let go of me!” She kicked him full force in the groin.

Rem’s grip loosened slightly for a moment.

Hana shoved free and make a break for the edge of the roof.

Rem dove forward and shoved her to the ground, pinning her, his chest resting on her back. 

Hana’s breath came in ragged gasps. Her heart thudded so hard he could feel it. “No, no, no! Please, Rem, no!”

“Okay, Hana. No going to the infirmary. But I want you to just come down with me. Just calm down and walk to the student council room with me.”

“No! Stop!”

Rem dragged her into a standing position, then picked her up, holding her against his chest.

Hana attacked him with her fists, increasingly weak blows landing against his chest. “Rem, please…”

Rem carried her back to the door.

He carried her down the stairs to the student council’s library, taking a less traveled route to avoid anyone noticing. Hana eventually stopped hitting him and just sat rigid in his   
grip.

He walked to the couch and laid her down. Why did he care? He should have been pleased that she was gone.

Her face was deathly pale. “Please don’t tell anyone, I can't - I don't - please - Kaginuki - "

“Take off your jacket, I need to see your wrists.”

She flinched, crossing her arms across her chest.

He pulled her arms away. “Either this or I take you down to the infirmary.”

She removed her blazer and held out her hand. Her gaze rested on the floor.

“What did you do?”

“I was in a hurry. The gardening club shed was locked so I couldn’t get shears. I didn’t exactly care at that point about injuring myself.”

“What were the flowers for, Hana?”

“Well, if they leave flowers for dead students, I figured I would save you all the trouble of cutting them yourselves since I’m worth so little of your energy.”

Rem’s stomach churned. “I’m going to get a first aid kit. You sit there and don’t move.”

“Okay.” Her voice was so soft he could barely hear it.

He retrieved the first aid kit from his desk and returned to sit next to her.

Her eyes were closed. Rem put a hand on her arm, working some magic over her. She went limp, asleep and blissfully unaware of what was going on around her. He wrapped his arm around her waist and moved her so she was sitting against him. Her head slumped against his shoulder. She looked… small like this. Harmless. Fragile.

This whole situation had been supposed to last a few days. Not even a week. Certainly not several weeks.

The door swung open and Urie stepped in. He took in the scene in a moment. “Is she dead?”

Rem shook his head. “No, though it’s only luck that kept her from having to send her to the hospital.” He opened the first aid kit and pulled out tweezers – there was likely some   
thorns stuck in her hands.

Urie sat down on her other side and cupped her cheek. “She’s rather grown on me. I may add her to my collection after this - unless you have any objections? You do seem very comfortable holding onto her like that.”

Rem pulled a thorn from her hand and set it on the table next to him. “I didn’t intend to draw this much attention to us. I thought it would be over in a few days. This was your idea, Urie, not mine.”

“And the butterfly’s condition is unfortunate.” Urie took hold of Hana’s other hand and inspected her injuries. “Not that any of this matters as long as we find the Grimoire.”  
Of course not. Worrying over a human’s condition like this wasn’t important at all. Honestly, what was the point of even trying to help her to begin with? He removed another thorn from her hand, pausing to tuck her hair behind her ear. He caught a whiff of vanilla – was that her hair? It must be her shampoo.

Urie eyed him for a moment with an odd expression but said nothing.

Rem began to disinfect her hand.

Even in her sleep, Hana’s face twitched into a grimace.

It would be a pain to cover up a death on campus, particularly one when so many students knew about the drama surrounding it. No, better for her to have lived.


	9. Chapter 9

Hana groaned. Her head hurt. Her hands hurt.

She blinked and opened her eyes.

She lay on a couch in the student council’s library.

“Do you feel better?” Rem walked towards the couch.

Hana shot up off the couch. “I’m fine.”

The world spun and she collapsed back onto the couch.

She sat still as he settled down next to her, focusing her gaze down on her bandaged hands.

“I didn’t think it would go nearly this far.”

Hana slapped him so hard his head turned to the side.

He turned back slowly, staring at her with that impassive look of his.

“Don’t apologize to me like that. You didn’t think having the whole school pretend I didn’t exist would ‘go this nearly this far’? You didn’t think that being bullied every day by   
literally the entire student body wasn’t a bit too much?” She pushed him so hard he nearly fell off the couch.

He grabbed her arms. “I stopped you from killing yourself.”

A roar began to rise in Hana’s ears. “And you want me to forgive you on the basis of you doing the bare minimum you should have when you were the reason I tried to begin with?”

“And you’re free to join the Student Council any time you like.”

Was he serious? Hana burst into laughter. “Hard as it might be to conceive, I don’t want to be on your stupid student council anymore. I don’t want to bother you anymore. I just   
want for this to be over.” She stood up, steading herself against the wall. “In the last two weeks, I’ve had my desk covered in graffiti every day, been shoved down a flight of stairs, found glass in my shoes, and had someone leave what amounts to a death wish on my desk. That’s in addition to having nearly everyone in school send me insults and threats through social media, while treating me like I don’t exist at school. I can’t do this. I quit. I give up, because all I can do with my life is fail apparently.” She picked up her blazer off the couch. “Goodbye.”

“I can’t let you leave until I know you’re not going to do that again.”

“Oh, now you care? A fine time to make that decision.”

“It’s my responsibility as Student Council President – ”

“To drive the other students to jump off the school roof? You’ve managed it.”

“Hana, I - ”

She silenced him with a glare. “I said goodbye. Don’t look for me in class anymore.”

“Hana, if you’re going to do that again – ”

She limped towards the Student Council Room, leaning against the wall for support. “I’d say don’t worry about me, but you clearly don’t have that problem. I’m transferring to a school where the student council aren’t a bunch of sociopaths. Don’t worry, you won't have me as a liability for much longer."

Hana stared at the double doors of the Third Library and took a deep breath.

One more time. Just to get her textbook. The stupid math textbook she’d left there in a hurry a week before. Rem and the others might not even be there.

She pushed the doors open. Naturally, the entire student council sat around the table.

Hana inhaled slowly and exhaled. “Oh, what luck, there’s no one here.” She walked towards the table. Her textbook lay in the middle. “I’ll just take my textbook and go.”

She reached the table, standing next to Urie, and reached for it.

“Hana.” Rem stood up from his desk at the front.

Hana picked up the book. “Oh, a fly’s buzzing. How annoying.” She spun on her heel and marched towards the door.

“Hana, stop. I want to talk to you.”

She quickened her footsteps. “And I want the last couple weeks back, but we can’t have everything we want in life, can we?” She reached the doors. “I have no words for you. I can only hope that there’s some little part of your heart that eventually shows you what you did, because I never can.”

Footsteps sounded fast behind her.

An arm wrapped around her waist, lifting her off the ground and carrying her back into the room.

“Hey, let go of me!”

“Chill out.” Mage set her down in one of the chairs at the table and stood behind her, resting a heavy hand on her shoulder.

Hana sat still, trying to stop herself from shaking.

Rem came down from his desk and sat down at the table across from her. “Hana, I want you to stay.”

“Is this a joke?” He couldn’t be serious.

“I want an opportunity to make up for how I treated you. I misjudged you in a lot of ways.”

“Don’t patronize me, Kaginuki. You only want to ease whatever mildly guilty feelings you’re capable of experiencing.” Did he ever drop that impassive expression? 

“I want you to stay.”

“Absolutely not. I’ve already convinced my parents to let me transfer to another school.” She tried to push her chair back, but Mage blocked her in. “I am not obligated to explain my reasons to you, or my actions. I am not a member of your student council, and I don’t know if it’s physically possible to have less interest in becoming one than I do right now. Now, are you going to let me leave or not?”

“Hana - ”

She shoved her chair back hard, striking Mage below the belt. He yelled in pain and stumbled back a few steps as Hana made a break for the door.

Arms wrapped around her waist, dragging her back into the room. She yelled in surprise. A hand clamped over her mouth, muffling the sound.

Urie sat down in the chair, dragging her down with him. Hana’s heart thudded in her ears. She swung her heel into his shin. His grip tightened and she squealed in pain. Tears beaded in her eyes and rolled onto Urie’s hand.

Rem walked around the table and bent down to eye level. He reached out and gently gripped her chin. 

Hana cringed and closed her eyes.

A finger rubbed the tears away from under her eyes. “I’m sorry, Hana. Open your eyes for me?”

Hana shook her head.

The hair hanging in her face was pulled away from her face and tucked delicately behind her ears. “Hana, I know you’re scared right now, but I need you to open your eyes. When you do, Urie will let you go and I’ll say my piece, then you can leave if you want.”

She sniffled and opened her eyes.

A smirk crossed his face. “Good girl.” His eyes glowed yellow and met hers. 

Her body seemed to go numb.

“I just want you to stay with us for a while. Until the end of the school year. Can you do that for me?” Rem’s voice was a command.

Urie’s hand moved away from her mouth slowly.

Hana’s mind seemed to melt away, awareness swirling into a pool of numbness. “Okay. Yes. I’ll stay until the end of the year. I’d love to.”

Rem released his grip on her chin. “Good girl.”

Hana climbed off of Urie’s lap. “Where were we? Didn’t we have some pages we need to collect or something?”

Rem’s eyes gleamed. “Yes, we did.”


	10. Chapter 10

“Why do you even want her to stay anyway?” Mage crossed his arms, eyes following Hana as she walked to the door, waving goodbye.

“She’s a better treasurer than Shiki was. If she does a better job, this student council will run more efficiently, and we’ll have more time to search for the Grimoire while maintaining our cover. She’s smart enough to do a good job, but not smart enough to figure out what’s going on. Especially not with that spell I put on her.” Rem pushed back the chair from his desk. “Now, I have some work to do. If anyone asks where I am, tell them I went home for the day. Oh, Urie, wait for a moment, I need to talk to you for a minute.”

Urie walked to the desk.

“I need to talk to a girl I think is one of your butterflies. Nanami… I don’t remember her last name.”

Urie considered for a moment.

“Are there a few named Nanami?”

“Not exactly. But there’s so many that I can’t always match the face to the name…”

“That’s why you call them all Butterfly?”

Urie gave him a sharp look. “All of my butterflies are special in their own way. Yes, I remember a Nanami. Long hair, quite slender, a small birthmark on her jaw?”

“That’s the one. Tell her you want to meet her here to tell her something, immediately. I need to talk to her and I don’t want anyone to know that we were involved.”

“Has my butterfly done anything wrong?”

“She was the one who pushed Hana down the stairs. I can’t allow someone who behaves like that to go unpunished, can I?”

“You were happy enough with it when she did so.”

“Be that as it may.”

Urie raised his eyebrows. “Oh, I see what’s happened.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing. Nanami will be here in ten minutes.” He left the room with a smirk.

Rem sighed and returned to his work.

For a girl who initially made such a bad impression, she rather impressed him. Her work was far better than Shiki’s had ever been – not that Shiki had set any kind of standard. Now that the bullying had ended, she seemed more cheerful and her appearance was much tidier. Not that she could have been called pretty or anything like that.

The door swung open. Urie and the girl came into the room.

“Right, Rem. I’ll leave you to it then.”

The girl blinked in surprise. “Urie? What’s going on?”

He retreated without a word.

“What is this?” Nanami glared at Rem and crossed her arms.

“I have two people who saw you push Hana Saito down a flight of steps. Do you deny it?”

“Isn’t this the teachers’ job?” Nanami backed towards the door. “Besides, those witnesses are all frauds. No one can prove I did that.”  
“  
Yes. Your father donates a lot of money to the school and you threatened everyone who you knew saw you. I saw you as well though.”

“Why even ask if you’ve already decided I’m guilty?”

“Because I thought I’d offer you a chance to apologize before I told you what was going to happen.”

Nanami snorted. “She had it coming.”

The bullying had stopped the moment Rem had acknowledged her as a student council member. Hana wasn’t universally hated by the other students. Barely anyone knew her name before she joined the student council, let alone enough about her to dislike her. The bullying probably was from peer pressure and the other students’ desire to look good. It hadn’t helped that she didn’t really socialize with the others, but that hadn’t been the cause.

Rem’s grip on his pen tightened. “I won’t hear you insult the intelligence of a member of my Student Council.”

“Oh, please. You didn’t care a week ago, why would you care now? Why did you even let her onto the Council anyway?”

“That’s none of your business, Nanami. You can consider yourself expelled.”

Nanami’s jaw dropped. “Do you know who I am?”

“Yes, and I know I can have you expelled. Now, go.”

Nanami’s face paled. “You can’t possibly think that they’ll let you just expel me.”

“I’ve already taken care of it. But I could turn it into a suspension instead of expulsion - in return for a favor. Tell me, who else was responsible for harassing her?”

Names poured forth names. The people who had stolen her shoes, ruined her desk, pushed and tripped her in the hall. Tears slid down Nanami’s face as fast as the names from   
her mouth. 

She finally halted. “That’s all the people I know. Please, don’t get me expelled.”

“And who left the flower on her desk? Who was that?”

She froze. “I… I thought that was the student council.”

“You’re free to leave. I have to think about whether or not I’ll have you expelled.”

She fled the room in tears.

Rem allowed himself a smirk and studied the list he’d taken down from her barely coherent babbling. It was sufficient, though he’d still need to track down who had left the flower   
on her desk.

Of course, Nanami would be the first to go. He couldn’t allow her to stay near Hana if she hated her so much. Someone who treated over people like that would likely cause problems in among the other students later along. Best to weed out problems like that.

“Is there any other business to be taken care of?” Rem pushed his book to the side, knowing already that they wouldn’t present any and prolong the meeting any further. “Then we’re dismissed.”

Mage and Shiki made a break for the door. Of course. The two did everything possible to avoid work.

Hana stood and began to gather up the papers scattered over the table.

“Let me help you with that, lovely Butterfly.” Urie began to stack everything neatly.

They both reached for the same paper, hands brushing.

Hana pulled her hand away. “Sorry.” Her cheeks reddened. “You and Rem can go. I’ve got this.”

“As my butterfly wishes.” Urie left.

Rem stood and began to collect his own work.

“Do you have any plans for tonight?” Hana neatly stacked the rest of the papers.

“Not really. Do you?”

“A doctor’s appointment. That’s all.”

Rem frowned. “Are you feeling alright?”

“It’s… I guess you could call it a check up more than anything else.” She glanced up at the clock. “Oh… just a second.” She produced a canister of pills from her pocket and swallowed two dry. “Ugh.. sorry.”

“You’re sick.”

“No, no.” She blushed. “It’s not like that at all.”

A sick treasurer was no good to him. “What kind of doctor’s appointments, Hana?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” She picked up her backpack. “Sorry, I have to go.”

Rem was across the room in a moment. He grabbed her arm, pulling her back a step. “What kind, Hana?”

“I said, I don’t want to talk about it. My business, not yours.” Her cheeks reddened.

“It is my business when you’re on my student council.” 

“It has to do with my mental health. It’s nothing you need to worry about. Now please, I don’t want to talk about it."

Rem let go of her arm. "I’m sorry. Is there anything - ”

“No!” She sprinted from the room, slamming the door behind herself. 

Rem returned to his desk. Maybe her parents had found out about the suicide attempt. Still, it was worth checking out.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up, I've got another scene with Hana dealing with someone harassing/getting handsy with her. Again, just thought I'd put that at the start here for those who might want to avoid/skip that.

The psychiatrist’s office was easy to find - catching Hana at the right time, less so.

She rarely spoke during the student council meetings and left immediately after they were over. Whenever their eyes met during class or in the halls, she looked away and reddened slightly.

After a week, he had enough and waited outside the office for her. He sat outside on a bench, waiting for her to emerge.

Hana’s jaw dropped and she let go of the door. It slammed behind her as she strode towards him. “ What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to walk you home.”

“Am I Roen?” She crossed her arms. “When I said I didn’t want to talk about it, I also meant I didn’t want you to show up here. I apologize, I thought that was assumed.”

Her annoyance was understandable, but still almost adorable. Hard to take seriously, though, when it was coming from a girl that only reached his chest and probably couldn’t so much as kill a spider.

“What, are you stalking me?”

“I was there myself on an errand and I saw you in one of the offices. I saw you leaving he room and thought I would say hello.”

She raised an eyebrow, clearly disbelieving him, but didn’t press the point.

She stared down at the ground and walked alongside him. The stores were already starting to close and the sky was dark.

Raindrops landed on Rem’s head. “Did you bring an umbrella?”

She shrugged.

“I don’t have one with me either. Is your house far?”

She shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Are you going to answer all my questions with one word?”

“Possibly.”

“Hana, is there something I need to know?”

“No.” She fixed her gaze on her shoes.

“Hana, if something’s wrong - ”

The skies opened and rain poured down.

Rem ducked underneath a store awning.

Hana kept walking, staring at her shoes, not even seeming to notice the rain.

“Hana! There’s a dry spot here.”

Hana didn’t seem to hear him.

Rem stepped out into the rain and dragged her underneath the awning.

Hana just stared at him blankly.

He let go of her arm. “I’ll call for someone to pick us up. There’s no reason to walk through that if we don’t have to.”

“I - I’d rather take the train.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to bother you.”

“It’s not a bother. But if you want to, then I’m going with you.”

“Fine. Rem, if I tell you, will you leave me alone about it?”

He nodded, then took her chin in his hands and stared directly into her eyes. “Tell me what’s wrong, Hana.”

She seemed to relax as his magic took effect. “I have issues with depression. I go talk to someone sometimes because that helps a little bit. My parents don’t know. Just my grandmother. I confided in her and she offered to pay for it and not tell my parents. She was a psychologist in Canada when she met my grandfather, and she did some work of some kind here for a while until she retired so she knows someone. Now will you please leave it alone?”

“You can eventually work through depression, can’t you? Once whatever is depressing you stops?” He didn’t know a lot about human psychology, but shouldn’t it be temporary?

“Not exactly.” She looked down at her shoes again. “I’m the pathetic middle child, not as good as the older kids and not one of the babies. You know, when I told my parents I’d joined the student council finally accomplished something I thought would make them proud, they didn’t even care.” Tears spilled down her face. 

So more difficult issues then. Rem swallowed. The hurt in her eyes and voice… that was his fault. Because he had wanted her to leave, and nearly destroyed her in the process.

“They complain that I don’t do anything or accomplish everything, then they say nothing when I do. I don’t want to get up a lot of mornings because I can’t stand the idea of facing everything again. And when I come home from school, I just go to my room and pretend no one else is there because they all hate me and wish I didn’t exist. Same at school. Everyone hates me. You saw that yourself.”

“I don’t hate you.” The words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them. But he meant them. He didn’t like her all that much, but hate her? No.

“Don’t you, though? How do I know you’re not all just lying to me so I won’t know? How do I know everyone I know isn’t doing that?”

“Hana, there are very few people that everyone in the world hates. You are not one of them.” Rem stared directly into her eyes. “Forget about that. Not everyone hates you. A lot of people like you, actually. Even if you can’t always realize it. Forget about all the hurt those people caused you - what do they matter? Stop caring if they like you or not. It’s easier that way, isn’t it? Just be happy - you deserve some happiness.”

Hana stared blankly into his eyes and nodded.

He released her chin. “Let’s go. The train station isn’t far.”

She followed him silently.

It might take a day for that sort of magic to fully settle in. Still, if it cancelled out the effects of his actions, it would be worth it. A depressed treasurer was hardly as efficient as a happy one, right?

Rem had never been obliged to ride the train before, and vowed never to do so again. It was hot and so crowded - how did some people do this every day? “Why would you prefer the train?”

“I like to watch the people.” She fiddled with the straps on her backpack.

“If you need to sit down, I can see about getting you a seat.”

“No, I’m fine.”

Rem stood next to her, holding on. “You look tired.”

“Today was a long session. I am tired.” She moved over slightly to make room for a short, well dressed man.

Hana pressed up even closer against him and Rem made a mental note to insist on taking her home in his car next time. How did she do this day in and day out?

Hana made a strange sound and pushed up even further against him.

Had it been one of the girls from school, he might have suspected she was trying something - it wouldn’t be the first time he’d have to physically pry one off of him. But Hana? The thought of her even considering it was laughable.

He glanced over.

The short man’s hand had slid up under her skirt. She was pressing against him trying to get away.

Rem reached across and wrenched the man’s hand off her leg.

Hana spun around.

“Did she ask you to touch her like that?”

The man stared at the ground and called Hana a rude word.

“Don’t talk about my treasurer like that."

The train pulled to a stop.

Rem grabbed her hand and pulled her off the train, into the crowds of the station. “We’re taking my car the rest of the way home.”

Hana pulled against his grip. “Rem - ”

He pulled her through the crowd. “Are you okay?”

“Rem, what was that?”

“He was feeling you up, so I told him to stop.” Was that… inappropriate somehow?

He pulled her out of the crowds and out of the train station, into sunlight.

She pulled her arm out of his grip.

“You - ” she stared at him. “Why?”

What was she going on about? “Did you want him to?”

“No!” She blushed. “I… the last time that happened, my mother told me not to make a scene out of it and to just move away. She said I shouldn’t be overdramatic and that I should just be happy someone thought I was worth paying attention to.”

Rem’s stomach wrenched. “What?”

“She said it’s rude to make a fuss about it.” Hana’s attention was somewhere between his shoes and a crack in the pavement.

“What do you care? You’ll never see those people again. If a man is so perverted that he can’t uphold some standards of behavior in a public place, then why should you have to uphold them so he doesn’t get embarrassed by his own behavior?”

“I...”

Rem had a feeling that if he ever met her mother he would probably strongly dislike the woman. Even most incubi wouldn’t just grope random women on a train – not that they had especially high standards of behavior when others weren’t looking, but in any case, human men were like dogs. “Your mother is wrong. If people do that, yell at them. I’ve see you angry, I’ve been on the end of your anger and it was… well I don’t suppose it matters.” Rem hooked a finger under her chin, tilting it upwards so she would look him in the eye. “You deserve to be treated better than that.”

Her eyes had gone very wide. “Thank you.”

“You did what yesterday?” Urie raised an eyebrow.

“It doesn’t do us any good to have a treasurer who’s miserable all the time.”

“She’s effective either way. Why do you care?”

“What are you implying, Urie?”

“Why, nothing.”

“Good morning, everyone!” Hana strutted forward into the student council room, beaming. She set her backpack on her chair. “Oh, Rem, I’ve got these figures for you. By the way, you might want to consider using computers for some of this. It’s not that efficient to use all this paper.” She dropped a stack of paper on his desk. “Sorry if I’m a little late, it took longer than I thought get all this.”

Urie took several steps back. “Are you sure that’s Hana?”

Mage and Shiki both stared at her with their mouths open.

“This should be interesting,” muttered Urie.

Rem picked up the stack of papers and held them up to read them - and to hide the grin he couldn’t quite keep off his face.


	12. Chapter 12

Is there any more business to be brought up?” Rem pushed aside the enormous pile of papers Hana had brought him. "Then we’re done here.”

Mage and Shiki made a break for the door.

“Hey!” Hana caught Shiki by the collar. “You’re not even part of the student council. If you’re going to hang around, help out a little bit. You too, Mage. Or are these things too heavy for you?”

Mage turned around and wordlessly began to clean up.

Shiki twisted in her grip and grabbed her wrist, wrenching it hard. “Don’t touch me.”

Pain shot upwards from her wrist. She squealed in pain.

“Shiki, stop that, now!” Rem marched from his chair towards them.

Shiki twisted harder.

Hana pried his fingers off. She darted behind Rem, happy for once at how he towered above her.

Shiki glared daggers at her.

“Shiki, that’s enough. Get out.” Rem’s tone was final.

Shiki left without a word.

“Did he hurt you?” Rem took her wrist in his hands and inspected it. “Do you need to go to the infirmary?”

Hana shook her head. “Maybe some bruises. Whatever. It’s not a big deal.”

Rem’s eyes rested on the closed doors.

“I shouldn’t have grabbed his collar like that. I’m sorry.” Hana pulled her hand out of Rem’s.

“And he shouldn’t have twisted your arm for it. We’ll have a… talk with him about it later.”

Mage punched Shiki in the jaw. Shiki fell backwards onto the floor, narrowly avoiding cracking his head on the table.

Rem crossed his arms and sighed. “You left that flower on her desk, didn’t you?” 

“I wanted her to leave us. It’s not hard to figure out. You did too. If you hadn’t gone and fallen in love with her. She’s pathetic.”

“She’s a lonely person who doesn’t see a way out. I gave her one because it suited my needs.”

Shiki smirked.

Mage kicked him in the ribs.

Rem forced himself to walk back to the desk. Mage could deliver the rest of the beating.

Shiki chuckled weakly. “Go on. Keep hitting me. She feels so sorry for herself - she doesn’t know anything about pain.”

Rem crossed his arms and glared at him. “She nearly killed herself. And that flower of yours was the reason.”

“If it wasn’t me, it would have been someone else.”

“I never want to hear that you’ve raised a finger against her or said an unkind word to her ever again. It's too much trouble to clean up your mess."

Shiki’s smirk vanished. “You really have fallen in love with her.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Mage, feel free to take as long as you like.”

What could he have possibly fallen in love with? The only trait of Hana’s he liked was her stubbornness, and even that got irritating quickly.

Rem set down his pen. So much work, so little time. Keeping up appearances was practically more work than searching for the Grimoire.

A timid knock sounded on the door.

“Come in.”

Hana entered, holding a stack of papers.

“How are you, Hana?”

“I’m alright.”

“Those are for me?” Not more work...

“Yes.” She walked to the desk and placed them next to the shogi board.

“Thank you, Hana, I don’t need you for anything else today.”

She frowned. “Are you sure? If you don’t mind my saying so, you look tired. Is there anything I can do to help?”

So helpful. Always taking care of everyone else’s work.

But he was so tired… Maybe a game of Shogi?

“Are you familiar with Shogi, Hana?”

“A bit. I’m not much good.”

Better than nothing. “Let’s play a game of it.”

They sat down next to each other on the couch, Rem arranging the set.

Hana said nothing as they played.

Her strategy was strange. All over the place, random, unpredictable. Did she even have a strategy at all?

The room was strangely warm… Maybe if he just closed his eyes a moment while she made a move…

Something soft bumped Hana’s shoulder as she drew her hand back from a move.

She turned to see Rem’s head on her shoulder.

Hana gasped and moved her shoulder slightly.

His head slid off her shoulder as he practically fell into her lap.

Hana’s cheeks burned. Student Council President Rem Kaginuki was asleep with his head in her lap. Should she wake him up?

…Half of the girls in her class would kill to be in the position she was in. Possibly literally.

She shifted slightly, positioning his head so that was in a more comfortable position, then sat very still, praying that no one would come into the room. This could get a little embarrassing if one of his fangirls showed up again.

His hair was actually kind of soft, and he looked so peaceful like this.

He mumbled in his sleep and shifted slightly.

Hana glanced around. She reached as far as she could without disturbing him and grabbed the blanket off the other end of the couch, spreading it over him.

A little smile appeared on Rem’s face for a brief second.

How was this sleeping boy in her lap the cold, stoic Rem who ran the student council?

The door swung open.

Urie strolled in.

Hana’s face felt suddenly very warm.

“Butterfly, what are you -”

She placed a finger on her lips and gave him a sharp look.

Urie walked around to see better.

His eyes widened slightly and he nodded in understanding.

“He fell asleep on me and I don’t have the heart to move him.”

Urie nodded and sat down opposite them.

Hana avoided eye contact with Urie from embarrassment.

“Thank you, Butterfly. Rem is very overworked. You have no idea how much you’re helping him.”

Rem’s head moved slightly and he groaned.

Urie practically sprinted across to the doors.

“Hana…” mumbled Rem.

What on earth was he dreaming about? Perhaps that was best left to her imagination. Her cheeks burned.

The clock ticked. At least she didn’t have anywhere to be tonight. Though she did have homework for English… that wasn’t as important.

Rem stirred. His eyes opened. “Hana…”

“Did you sleep well?” A wave of heat gripped her cheeks and neck.

Rem blushed as well, sitting up quickly and moving away.

Hana stood up. “If you’ll excuse me, I have English homework.”

“Do you have it with you?”

She nodded. “In my backpack at the table.”

Rem stood as well. “Then I’ll help you.”

“But you’re busy.”

“I need a break.”

“If you say so.” She walked to the table and unpacked her homework. “I have to finish a paragraph assignment by tomorrow morning. That’s all. Five hundred words.”

“Five hundred? How have you got?”

“Half of that.” She took out the crumpled paper from her backpack.

“What are you supposed to write about?”

“A topic that interests us.”

“And what did you pick?”

“About my trip to Paris last year.” She forced the memory out of her head. It wouldn’t help her at all to think about that night - the night she’d left the hotel in tears. “My parents told me I needed to get out of the house, so they took on their business trip.”

Rem took the paper from her and began to read. “You’re not bad at English. You study it outside of class a lot?”

“Yes, I do. Thank you. Two years ago I tried to go to Canada as an exchange student. It didn’t work out, but I studied a lot. I want to go there for a little while after I graduate. My aunt lives there.”

He crossed out several letters. “Your grammar is actually really good, but you forgot about some of the spelling exceptions.”

She groaned. “Why are there so many… where did you learn English?”

“From a private tutor. My father insisted.”

She studied the paper and made a mental note of the crossed out sections. “Thank you, Rem.”

“It was my pleasure.”

She put the paper back inside her textbook to avoid damaging it on the way home.

“I’m actually done here - I think I’ll finish it up at home. Would you mind if I saw you home? I heard about what happened when you were running for student council, and it’s already growing dark.”

“Thank you. Yes, certainly, please.” Hana picked up her backpack.

She followed him out of the school. Snow had begun to fall outside, covering the world in a soft blanket of white, already several inches thick.

Hana squealed in delight and dashed out into the snow.

Rem stared at her.

“It’s snowing!” She dug her navy blue scarf out of her backpack.

She frowned. “Don’t you have a winter coat or something? It’s freezing cold.”

Rem shrugged. “I didn’t notice.”

Well, the ice king naturally wouldn’t notice the cold.

“No scarf or gloves or anything?”

“My car will be here soon.”

“In which time you’ll be cold. Take my scarf.”

“I’m fine.”

Hana stood on tiptoe and looped it around his neck. “Take it.” She shivered. The short skirt of her uniform left her legs exposed to the weather.

Something struck Hana in the small of her back.

She spun around to see two girls holding snowballs.

She gathered up some snow and threw it back at them.

The girls scattered, laughing.

Hana glanced over her shoulder at Rem. She picked up a handful of snow and packed it into a ball. The cold numbed her hands.

Rem’s attention was towards the way from which his car would come.

No. He wouldn’t think it was funny. She dropped the snowball and dug mittens and a hat out of her backpack. Why were they allowed thicker socks or something? The stockings they wore provided no help whatsoever.

A black limo pulled up.

Hana’s eyes widened.

She’d never been in a limo before.

Rem got her door.

The girls who had been throwing snowballs stopped and stared at them.

Hana sat down. The gossip tomorrow was going to be dreadful, wasn’t it…

Rem opened the other door and got in as well.

Hana shivered as he closed the door.

“Heat’s on. You’ll warm up soon.”

She took off the mittens and rubbed her hands together to warm them up. “Thank you so much, Rem. I’d be walking home in this if it wasn’t for you.”

“If it wasn’t for me, you would have left the school a while ago. Don’t mention it.”

Hana blushed at the memory.

What would her parents say when she came home?

The ride was spent in silence. Rem just watched her, with a strange expression on his face.

They pulled up to the house.

“Thank you.” Hana climbed out of the vehicle. No cars in the driveway, no bicycles either. Everyone was gone, except for Grandmother.

“Oh, your scarf.” Rem began to unwind it from his neck.

“Keep it.”

Rem paused.

“Don’t worry about it. Grandmother taught me how and I made a couple of them, and if you’re going to forget to bring them to school, perhaps my gifting you one will help.” She opened her door and turned, setting her feet down.

She hesitated. A strange part of her didn’t want to let today – let this time with Rem – go quite yet.

“If you want… if you’d like to come in… do you want hot chocolate? As a thank you for taking me home,” she added quickly.

There was a moment of silence.

Rem’s car door opened. “Come back for me in an hour.”

Hana let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding.


	13. Chapter 13

The interior of the house was impeccably tidy, especially for a family with seven children. It seemed almost unlived in.

“Where is everyone?”

“At work or cram school.” Hana shrugged. She gestured to the kitchen table. “You can leave your coat there.”

Rem peeled off his winter coat and set it down, leaving the scarf on top of it.

Hana pulled a white apron on over her school uniform. “You can sit down at the kitchen table if you like.”

Rem sat down – he was more tired than he’d realized. “No cram school for you?” She was an excellent student in any case, but it would give her an undeniable advantage.

Hana shrugged and began pulling ingredients from the cupboard and pouring them into a pot. “No.”

Rem glanced around again. The wall at the end of the kitchen displayed several sets of family photographs, a particularly large one showing Hana and the rest of her family gathered in front of a shrine. Hana had been shoved to the back of the small crowd, despite being the shortest person in the photo. He could barely see her behind her two younger, yet taller brothers. Odd. She was absent in a vastly disproportionate number of the other pictures, most of them focusing on her siblings.

When he had hypnotized her in the library all those weeks ago… why had she said she joined the Student Council? I have to prove that I can do something - something that’s worth noticing.

“Hot chocolate’s ready.”

Rem turned around to see Hana extended a mug of the thickest, creamiest hot chocolate he had ever seen.

He accepted it and took a sip. It tasted even better than it smelled.

Hana sat down across from him. “Rem, if you don’t mind me asking – what are you doing when you graduate? Studying, I mean?”

“I’m going to a school abroad. My father wants me to go into politics.” About as close to the truth as he could tell her, really. “And take over his business.”

“Is that what you want?”

“…What I want?”

“Sorry, you just didn’t seem all that enthusiastic about it.”

“It doesn’t disinterest me. It’s what my father wants me to do.” Did he want anything, really? “What do you want to do when you leave high school?”

“I’m transferring to the university that my grandmother went to in Canada. I’m going to study English there. I’m interested in working in translation between English and Japanese.”

“Is that what your parents want?”

Hana shrugged.

A strange feeling formed in Rem’s chest, one he couldn’t quite name. Duty seemed a foreign concept to her, or one she had decided to ignore.

“Rem, if you weren’t taking up your father’s business, what would you want to do? Is there anything you’d want to do? I’m just curious.”

Rem considered. Something… else? He shook his head.

Hana sipped her hot chocolate and said nothing.

The door creaked.

Hana sprang to her feet, face paling slightly. “Hi, Mom!”

“Not Mom, just Rinko.”

Hana’s face relaxed instantly. “Rinko!”

A tall girl in a skirt and blouse came around the corner. Her eyebrows raised at the sight of Rem.

Haha’s cheeks turned scarlet. “…This is Rem Kaginuki, from the Student Council. He gave me a ride home and I offered him hot chocolate. Rem, this is my sister, Rinko.”

“It’s good to meet you, Rem.” Rinko gave Hana a curious look.

“A pleasure,” said Rem. The sight of Hana’s face flushed with embarrassment gave him an odd feeling in his chest. He brushed it off. The sight was… no. “Cute” was hardly a word to apply to one of his pawns.

“I hope Hana’s not boring you,” said Rinko with a chuckle.

Hana glared at her sister.

“I’m only messing with you.” Rinko walked across to the sink. “I’ll do the dishes – Mom’ll be home early today, by the way. At about six.” She glanced at Rem and gave Hana a meaningful look.

Hana nodded. “Thanks for the heads up.”

Mrs. Saito, Rem supposed, wouldn’t want to find her daughter home alone with a boy.

Rinko turned around from the sink.

Rem finished his hot chocolate and watched as Hana stared into hers. Dishes clattered in the sink as Rinko washed them, humming as she worked.

“Sorry, I’ll be back in a minute.” Hana stood up. “I just need to grab a sweater, I’ll be quick.”

She disappeared around the corner.

Rinko wiped her hand off on a towel.

“How long have you two known each other?”

“A few months. Not long.”

Rinko glanced in the direction of the doorway.

Hana’s footsteps sounded above their heads.

Rinko crossed the kitchen and leaned her elbows on the table. “I don’t know what kind of relationship you have with my sister – just Student Council business, a friendship, for all I   
know you two could have gotten secretly engaged or something like in one of those games Hana likes. But I do know that Hana doesn’t make friends easily, and the fact that she’s actually asked you to come into our house means you’re probably the person she’s closest to at that school. Bear that in mind.”

“…Thank you for telling me.”

Hana’s footsteps sounded in the hall.

Rinko turned and went back to washing the dishes.

Hana reappeared, wearing a heavy black cardigan. “Sorry, I was a bit cold.” She took a sip of her hot chocolate.

“Catch!” Rinko tossed Hana a package.

Hana caught it, pulling it against her chest. “Yes!” She tore open the top and peered inside, her eyes sparkling at the sight of the contents. She set it on the chair next to her.

“If I can ask, what did you get?” asked Rem.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just… a game.”

“Game?”

“It’s the sequel to Code Realize, that’s all.”

“Code Realize?”

“Oh, it’s this Steampunk game about all these fictional and historical characters like Arsene Lupin and Abraham van Helsing and Frankenstein and Saint Germain. And there’s this girl who’s a homunculus and she can’t touch people because her skin is poisonous. And Lupin takes her to London and they try to find out why her skin is poisonous so they can cure her and there’s this terrorist plot with this mad scientist who’s trying to become God and – ” Her eyes sparkled as she babbled excitedly about the game’s plot.

That strange feeling formed in Rem’s chest again. He pushed it away again.

“And Lupin is just the sweetest and nicest to her and he calls her ‘princess’ and he’s so – ”

“You’ve done it now,” chimed in Rinko from the sink.

Hana turned red again. “I’m sorry, Rem, I’m probably just boring you…”

“You’re not. It’s fine.”

The phone rang.

Rinko paused, then returned to the dishes. “They’re probably selling something.”

“Rinko, Hana.” The voice on the other end was sharp and angry. “You had better be doing homework, Hana, with the state of your grades, especially if you’re going to ignore the phone like this.”

Hana turned her gaze into her hot chocolate.

“And Rinko, I know you’re home by now. Please have the dishes done.”

The message cut off.

Hana kept her gaze in her hot chocolate.

Rinko’s cheeks tinged pink.

Rem’s phone buzzed. His ride had returned.

“Excuse me, my ride’s here.”

Hana walked with him to the door. “Thank you for staying. I’m… sorry you had to hear that. She’s just stressed out.”

And taking out her frustrations on Hana, who, it seemed, had long fallen short of her expectations. Given Hana’s high grades and position on the Student Council, her standards seemed to be very high indeed. His father kept even higher standards, true, and the consequences for Rem’s failures were much greater. You could only ask so much of humans though, they became tired out and broke so easily.

“No need for apologies.” He tied the scarf around his neck.

“And… thank you for listening to me babble about games.” She blushed again and stared at the ground.

“It’s fine.”

She was cute when she got excited, like Rinko had said. And when she blushed. Making him hot chocolate, talking with him, playing games with him, blushing like that, asking him about what he wanted – had anyone else ever asked him what he wanted instead of telling him?

He closed the door behind himself, the sudden cold returning him to his senses. She was a pawn for him, something to use to get towards his greater goal. That was all.


	14. Chapter 14

Hana covered her mouth to hide a yawn.

Rem just would not stop talking. And talking. His voice droned on in her ears as her eyelids drooped. Her head ached.

Why had she joined this student council again? Her mind seemed to blur as she failed to produce the reason.

“Hana?”

She snapped alert. “Sorry, Rem. I was up all night last night.”

“Homework?”

Her cheeks burned. More like Code: Realize.

Mage was already asleep on the table, snoring.

Hana grinned and reached across the table for a felt tip marker.

“Hana, what are you doing?” Rem’s pen barely stopped scratching across the paper.

Hana raised a finger to her lips and took the cap off the marker. She doodled a fanciful mustache underneath Mage’s nose.

Urie covered his mouth, but it did nothing to stifle his laughter. “Oh, Butterfly.”

Luckily, Mage didn’t wake up.

Rem stared at her with that stone cold expression of his. “I’ll pretend I didn’t see that.”

“Where’s Shiki today? I haven’t seen him for a while, now I think about it.”

“Shiki fell down the stairs.”

Hana gasped. “Is he okay?”

“Not badly, he’ll be back in school soon.”

On the table, Mage stirred. “What… yeah… he’ll be fine, though he won’t forget about it any time soon.” Mage smirked and went back to sleep.

“Um… okay.” Hana realized that the pen in her hand was uncapped and tried to push the cap back on.

The cap fell from her hands and onto the table. The pen brushed against her hand, leaving a long streak of black.

She yelled in frustration and threw the pen across the room.

Mage jerked awake. “What?”

Hana stared at her hand. “I… I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me there. Excuse me.” She pushed back her chair and practically ran from the room.

Hana’s feet pounded down the stairs and through the hall.

Rage poured through her heart. Rage, hurt, and a sense of loneliness. Loneliness? She wasn’t alone. She wasn’t alone. She wasn’t alone.

She collapsed next to a locker, landing on her knees and pressing her fists into both her eyes. No, she wasn’t going to cry.

“Did you see Hana and the student council this morning?”

Hana froze.

“Laughing and talking to them like she was some kind of friend of theirs. Three weeks ago they were pretending she didn’t even exist, and now she’s their best friend.”

The voice was nearby. Probably someone getting a book from their locker.

“Yeah. They were pretty horrible to her.”

“They? Didn’t you write on her desk a few times?” The other voice was sharp. “Don’t blame others for doing things when you didn’t do anything to stop them.”

Footsteps moved away.

They were right. Why had she done that? Why didn’t that bother her?

Hana watched where she was placing her feet. The snow just wouldn’t stop piling up, would it? She adjusted her scarf, glancing around.

Rem stood by the road. Probably waiting for his limo.

“Hi, Rem!”

He turned around. “Walking home again from school?”

“Actually, Rinko said she’d come get me in her car. She’s bought one now that she’s planning to move out. She’s very proud of it.” Hana knelt in the snow, ignoring the dampness soaking into her stockings. She began to pack a snowball.

“You’re not planning to start a snowball fight, are you? As a member of my student council, I can’t approve - ”

“I’m building a snowman while I wait.”

“A snowman?” He stared at her incredulously.

“Rem…” She put the snowball down and began rolling it through the snow. “You want to help?”

“Sure?” It came out as a confused question.

“Make a snowball and start rolling it.”

She pushed hers all over the schoolyard, causing the ball to grow bigger and bigger.

“Are you strong enough for that?” Rem frowned, seeing that the ball had grown to be as tall as her waist.

“I’m stronger than I look.” She threw her weight against it, pushing it forward. Rinko had probably taken a scenic route. A very, very scenic route.

Rem left his own ball and helped her to push it forward.

Hana slipped and fell, her knees hitting the ground hard.

“Hana?” Rem’s eyes widened and he knelt next to her. “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just slipped.” She stood up and kept pushing. Her and Rem’s shoulders pressed together.

“I think that’s good now.” She walked over to Rem’s abandoned ball and picked it up.

Rem’s eyes widened. “Hana, wait! That’s too - ”

“Heavy for me?” She stood on tiptoe to roll it onto the top of the other ball.

Rem raised an eyebrow and said nothing.

“Hm…” Hana studied the two balls. “I think these are enough. What should we do for buttons?”

“Buttons?” Rem shrugged.

Hana used her finger and poked holes in head for an mouth and eyes. “He looks cold.” She took off her scarf and draped it around his neck.

“Do you not like scarves or something?” Rem frowned.

Hana burst out laughing.

Rem eyed her curiously.

“You don’t seem to mind them. You still have mine, after all.”

His hand jerked up to touch the navy blue fabric wrapped around his neck. “Yes. It’s very warm. Thank you again for it.”

Why was he so stiff all the time? “And you’re welcome to it, as is the poor snowman.”

Hana pushed in the chairs and glanced around the student council room. No need for Rem to have to clean up anything when he came in on Monday morning.

Something soft rubbed up against her legs, and she turned to see Roen whining at her feet.

“Oh, there you are!” She bent down and scooped him up, positioning the squirming ball of fur against her chest. His paws brushed against her chest as he scrambled to lick her face.

Hana laughed. “Oh, I wish I could take you home.” She scratched him behind the ears and petted his head.

“Oh, Butterfly~”

Hana turned slightly to find Urie standing by Rem’s desk. “Oh! I thought you’d left.”

“No, I came back to help, but it seems you are more than capable yourself.” He perched on the edge of the table. “I only have my butterflies to see nowadays, everyone is so busy with preparing for exams.”

“Your butterflies,” chuckled Hana. Did they have nothing better to do than sit around in his garden when exams were coming to an end?

“I would be honored if you were to join us for our party tomorrow.”

“I have to study. But thank you.”

“A pity.” Urie sighed dramatically. “The lovely Butterfly yet again flies away from me.”

Hana stroked Roen’s fur and grinned at his over the top reaction. For a flirty type, Urie was nice. Just not her type.

“There are so many butterflies… and they are all lovely. But even still, I would welcome you as an addition to their number.”

“…Thanks.” Hana knelt and placed Roen on the ground. “Now, Roen, I some treats I brought for you.” She began a search of her jacket pockets.

“So many types of beauty, and so many that are at the same time unique. But what about you?”

“What about me?” Hana’s fingers closed around the dog treat and she held it out. “Roen, sit.”

Roen barked and sat up straight.

“You? Surely you have a type you prefer?”

“I mean…” Only in otome games, really. “Not really?” Lance from Nameless, Arsene Lupin in Code: Realize, Ukyo in Amnesia, 707 in Mystic Messenger… maybe that counted as a type? No, they didn’t have much in common with each other. “No, not really.”

Urie shook his head. “There’s nothing at all that you prefer? No physical traits? Nothing about their personality, how they carry themselves?”

Hana shrugged. “I hadn’t thought about it, I suppose.”

“Is there anyone at this school you like?”

“Urie, if you’re trying to ask me to join your little harem, the answer is no.” Hana fished the second treat out of her pocket. “Roll over, Roen! That’s a good dog!”

Roen rolled over and straightened up, panting excitedly.

“No, no. That’s no way to get something like that from a butterfly! But… there’s no one in this school who you like? Who you really, really like?”

Why did he need this information? “Well, if you must know… I guess I do like someone.” Hana stared at the floor and blushed slightly.

Urie looked oddly excited to hear this. “Butterfly! May I ask… who is the lucky one is?”

“Hm… I don’t know if I should tell you. He’s super nice… and he’s always happy to see me…”

“You can trust me. I won’t tell him.”

Hana grinned. “His name…”

“Yes?”

“It’s Roen.” She scooped him up off the floor as the dog barked excitedly. “He’s such a good boy, yes he is!” She patted his head. “Such a sweet dog, don’t you think? All dogs are good dogs but Roen is so sweet. Yes, you are Roen, aren't you?”

Urie’s smile froze. “…Yes.” He all but sprinted for the door.

Hana giggled. “That’s he gets for being so nosy. I don’t know that I like anyone really.” She chuckled and scratched Roen behind his ear. “And if I did, I don’t know that I’d want to tell him.”


	15. Chapter 15

“And that concludes our meeting for today.” Rem closed the book on his desk. “Please remember to have those figures to me by the end of the day, Mage.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Mage pushed back his chair.

Rem remained seated, pulling out some papers that still had to be filled out. Another late night of work lay ahead of him.

Urie and Mage let themselves through the door as Hana gathered her books and swept them into her bag.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Hana walked towards the desk. “Are you sure there’s nothing I can help you with?”

Rem shook his head. All of this was his responsibility, and she was already busy enough. “I can handle it.”

The door groaned and a girl in a disheveled school uniform stepped through.

Hana walked towards her. “Hello. Did you get summoned to the Library for something?” She glanced at her watch. “It’s a bit late for you to still be here.”

The girl regarded Hana with a cold expression. “No.” She turned her attention on Rem and her whole face lit up.

One of his fan club? Usually the spells on the entrance repelled them.

The girl sprinted towards his desk. “O Great Rem!”

Rem stood up in time for the girl to grab onto him, wrapping both her arms around his waist and pressing her face into his chest.

Rem grabbed the girl’s hands, trying to pull them off him as carefully as possible. “…Do I know you?”

She said nothing, only continued to cling to him, resisting his attempts to remove her.

Hana walked over to them and gave Rem a questioning look. “The Student Council President is busy tonight, could your business wait until another time?”

The fan girl made no comment.

Hana reached across and took hold of the girl’s fingers, peeling them off of Rem’s waist.

The girl squealed and twisted around. “Get your hands off me, you – ”

Hana ignored her and began to lead her towards the door.

The girl squirmed and kicked at Hana, who had a tight grip on her fingers. “You get to be in here all day with him, can’t I just have five minutes?”

“That would be up to the Student Council President, who clearly is not interested in you.” Hana opened the door and pushed her through. “If Rem wants to see you, he’ll call you, which is how he treats me as well.”

"Why do you get to be so familiar with him?!" The girl scratched at Hana’s face with her free hand.

Hana shoved the girl hard and slammed the door in her face.

There was a moment of silence.

“Are you alright, Rem?”

He nodded. “Are you?”

Hana shrugged and raised a hand to the scratches, some of which were bleeding. “Her nails are sharp.”

Rem pulled the first aid kit out of his desk and gestured for her to come over. “Sit.” He motioned to his chair.

“Rem, they’re just scratches, I don’t – ”

“Sit.”

Hana sat down in his chair. 

He pushed back several strands of hair from her face. “I’ll disinfect it.”

Hana sat still and allowed him to take care of the bleeding scratches on her face.

She directed her attention to her hands in her lap. “It’s not like it’s the first time it’s happened or anything. I found two of Urie’s fangirls trying to get in this morning. When I told them to leave, they accused me of sleeping with him in return for my position and said I was stealing him from them.”

“What did you do?”

Hana’s cheeks reddened slightly. “Told them that he was downstairs if they wanted to try making the same deal.”

Rem suppressed a chuckle and made a mental note to increase the enchantments surrounding the library. “Thank you, Hana. You didn’t have to do any of that.”

Hana blushed. “It’s part of my duties as a member of your student council. But thank you.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, heads up. Shiki is... very, very intensely, disturbingly Shiki in this chapter and it really doesn't go well for Hana.

Hana pushed open the door to the third library.

It was empty, except for Shiki. He sat on a couch, ripping a brush through Roen’s fur, tearing out sections of it as the Pomeranian howled in pain.

“Shiki!” shouted Hana. She dashed across the room and wrenched Roen away from Shiki, pulling the puppy against her chest. “Stop that! You’re hurting him!” She took several steps back. “What were you thinking?”

“Oh, it’s you.” He glared and stayed where he was.

“Yes, it’s me. Why would you treat Roen like that?” She carried the dog to Rem’s desk and set him down on the floor. “It’s okay, Roen. He’s not going to hurt you anymore…”

Roen ran away behind a curtain.

Shiki glared at her sullenly.

“You don’t treat animals like that, Shiki. You don’t needlessly torment a creature that can’t fight back.” She crossed her arms across her chest. “It’s sick. You’re sick.”  
"What are you, my mother? Why shouldn’t I?”

“Because that’s cruel.”

“What do you care?”

“Because it makes me sick to see or think about it, that’s why! And if I ever catch you at it again, I’ll make you regret it.”

Shiki shrugged and stood up. “Whatever, leave me alone.”

He just abused an animal that couldn’t fight back and that was his reaction? A roar filled Hana’s ears and she slapped him across the face.

Shiki grabbed her, shoving her forward, pushing her face into the couch cushions.

Hana screamed into the cushion.

Shiki’s full body weight pressed on top of her. “You could suffocate like this and no one would hear you. Isn’t that a thrilling thought? Just gasping, struggling to live even after you know you’re not going to escape?”

Hana gasped for air, but Shiki’s hands kept her head pressed down.

Her heart raced. Shiki was insane. She had to get away from him.

She threw her full body weight back. It didn’t knock Shiki off, but his grip loosened.

She attacked him with her hands, sliding them up to a sensitive area of the arm and pinching it hard. At the same time, she threw her full body weight back again.

Shiki slid off her, hitting the floor hard.

Hana straightened up more slowly, her vision spinning. She gasped for air and made a break for the door.

Shiki sighed and stood up. “Well, that was fun while it lasted.”

Hana yanked on the door handle, but it wouldn’t move.

He crossed the room to Rem’s desk and started going through the drawers. “Where does he keep it? I know he must have some somewhere…”

Hana ran to one of the window alcoves and yanked the window open.

A few stories drop… but still better than being there with that psycho.

Shiki’s hand caught her hair, twisting in it and pulling her away from the window.

Hana screamed aloud.

Shiki’s hand covered her mouth, forcing what felt like a ball of fabric into it. “You’re starting to really annoy me, you brat.” He tied a piece of cloth across it. “There, now we won’t have any unexpected visitors.”

Hana shrieked into the gag. What was he doing?

Shiki put a hand on her throat and squeezed slightly. “You aren’t going anywhere.”

Hana froze.

He grinned the most insane smile she’d ever seen, and grabbed her arms, and pushed her up against the wall.

Hana tried to turn her head to see what he was doing.

He fished a pair of handcuffs out of his pocket and snapped them onto her wrists.

Hana gasped and tried to pull away. What kind of psychopath was this guy?

“Yes, struggle all you want. You won’t get away.” Shiki’s voice was right in her ear. “Not from me.”

Hana pulled hard, aiming kicks at his legs.

He laughed. “You’re so pitiful like this.”

The metal of the handcuffs cut into her wrists.

Shiki grabbed her collar, pulling her away from the wall and shoving her onto the floor, pinning her with his body weight.

Hana twisted to see what he was doing.

Shiki produced a ball of string and tied her ankles together. “There.”

Her heart sunk.

Shiki climbed off of her. “I suppose you’re wondering what I’m going to do. I’m not really sure yet. Rem told me to leave you alone but… imagine if he were to find me so directly disobeying him. Imagine what he’d do.”

Hana shook.

“One last thing.” Shiki climbed back on top of her and removed his tie. He moved to blindfold her.

Hana rolled hard.

The sudden movement nearly caused him to fall off.

He grinned and regained his position on top of her.

He blocked her vision with his tie.

Shiki sat up. His weight left her. He picked her up and laid her over his shoulder. “I know. I’ll take you somewhere. It’s not far. I think you’re going to enjoy this. Well, even if you don’t, I will.”

Hana’s heart raced. Where were the others? But if he was going to take her out of the student council room, wouldn’t someone see them?

The soft thuds of Shiki’s footsteps changed to an echoing noise. Where were they?

Shiki set her down on a cold, smooth floor.

“What must you be thinking right now? Hoping Rem will come to find you?” He chuckled. “No. No, I think you should wait to see what’s going to happen. That would be best. The anticipation of something awful… now that’s a thrill.”

Her heart pounded. Her lungs gasped for air, but her mouth was full of cloth.

The last thing Hana was aware of was the cold floor pressing against her face.


	17. Chapter 17

Hana moaned. Her arms ached. Her head ached.

She opened her eyes and saw nothing. Hana’s heart raced.

She was still restrained, her arms now pulled above her head, her knees resting on the ground.

Was Shiki here?

Hana twisted her head. The blindfold was particularly loose. She rubbed her face along her arm, trying to get it off.

The blindfold slid down around her neck.

She knelt on a cement floor in a large room. Paintings hung on the walls… an art gallery? How had they gotten here? She tried to stand and found that her legs were still tied up. Her wrists were still handcuffed, with the cuffs attached to a chain that hung from the ceiling. What was he planning to do to her?

The paintings on the walls were strange. The one directly across from her was a painting of a girl in a frilly red dress walking a tightrope, with her eyes closed. One foot hung off to the side, as if she was ready to step off.

Surrounding it were dark landscapes, paintings that she felt she’d seen before but couldn’t quite place where. Maybe art class?

“Oh, you’re awake now.”

Shiki’s voice was directly behind her.

Hana squealed into the gag.

“I have something to show you.” He untied her ankles. The chain holding her arms up came away.

She dropped her hands behind her back.

He held onto her arm. “What do you think of these pictures?”

They were all incredibly creepy. All dark colors and surreal, grotesque shapes.

“There’s not much color in these, is there…” mused Shiki.

He walked her down a hall into a wider and better lit art gallery. In the center was a large statue. Rather like the sort of monument that might mark a grave, it was a weeping angel, stretched over a tomb.

“What do you suppose that’s here for?”

Hana shrugged. What sort of art gallery was this?

“I think I prefer you like this. So quiet and submissive…”

He walked her to the edge of the room. The walls were lined with paintings, all of which were morbid in some shape or form.

He stopped at a picture of a woman. The woman lay on the ground, with a dark Grim reaper standing over her. “Hm… doesn’t it just give you a thrill?”

What kind of artists’ gallery was this and why did this person draw nothing happy or colorful?

The next one depicted a girl, painted in black, carrying an umbrella, walking through a torrent of vibrant colors.

Similar pictures covered the walls as he led her around the room, occasionally stopping to comment on some morbid detail he found “thrilling”.

Hana’s legs shook. What was the point of this? What was he going to do with her?

“I wonder, what do you think of this one?”

Shiki’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts. This one she recognized - she’d been there. A black and white painting of bridge in Paris, overlooking a beautiful river in the middle of the night.

She shuddered at the memory.

“You like that one?” Shiki dragged her over to it. “You’ve been there?”

She made no response and looked away from the picture.

Shiki grabbed her jaw, forcing her to look at it. “It’s a pretty bridge. Recently?”

Her heart pounded and she closed her eyes.

“No, I want to see your eyes. You ever hear people say the eyes are windows to the soul? I want to watch the light leave them, to see you fall into despair. If that picture means what I think, I won’t have to wait long.” He grinned and began to pull her towards the next picture.

Hana took off with a sudden burst of speed.

Shiki’s arm pulled her back. “You can’t leave me. Not until we’re done, anyway.”

He dragged her forwards to the next painting. People everywhere, painted in brilliant colors, with a girl painted entirely in black. Stretching out behind her was a shadow.

She twisted hard, stomping on his foot. She broke into a run, down the gallery, towards the nearest door. Maybe there would be other people, people who could help her.

She turned down a hall. More paintings, all as strange as the others. She sprinted down it, footsteps echoing off the halls.

The building was so quiet. Silent as a tomb. Maybe they were the only two in the building? Probably.

She ran into another gallery, this one full of sculptures. How did this place have no exit doors?

The statues were as strange as anything she’d seen in the paintings. Children and women crying, monsters. She walked into the next room. A dead end, but these one full of more paintings, these larger than the others.

One of them showed a girl with long black hair covering her face - like Sadako in Ring - burying an open chest. Inside the chest was an identical girl. A dark metaphor, probably, but she didn’t have time to think about that.

She turned around.

The doorway was gone.

The gag muffled her scream of surprise and horror.

She ran to where the door had been. No sign that there had ever been anything there. More pictures had covered the walls.

It was like a bad horror movie or something. It vaguely reminded her of that game Layers of Fear.

Thinking about video games at a time like this…

The painting hanging in front of her was so strange. It was painted like the inside a black hole. A dark well. A hollow emptiness. Something that you could fall down forever and never die. She shuddered. Next to it was a painting of a girl in a school uniform, hands covering her face. A rainbow of colors had been poured all over her, but she didn’t seem to notice. As if she couldn’t see them or didn’t understand them.

“Hana.”

Hana instinctively broke into a run and crashed into the wall. Her face slammed into a picture frame and she fell back.

She scrambled onto her feet and tried to make a break for the other side of the room.

A hand caught hers. “Hana, it’s me.”

She twisted around.

Rem gripped her hand.

“Hana, it’s okay. I found you. Shiki won’t touch you.” Rem untied the gag, pulling out the fabric that had been stuffed into her mouth. He turned her around and freed her hands.

They fell limply to her sides.

Rem walked around to face her. “Are you hurt? What did he do to you, Hana?”

Tears welled up in her eyes. She buried her face in her hands so he wouldn’t be able to see her.

A pair of stiff arms wrapped around her.

Hana gasped in surprise.

Rem pulled her against his chest awkwardly, obviously unused to hugging. “It’s okay. You’re safe now.” One hand ended up on her back, pressing her against his chest. “Urie and Mage are taking care of everything.” Rem scooped her up off the ground. “Let’s go. There’s no need to be here anymore.”

Hana clung to his torso, her tears soaking into his shirt.

He walked forward. A door clicked.

“You’re okay.”

He set her down. They were in the student council room now. Where had they come from…

“Let me see your wrists.” Rem took her hands. "There’s some areas that are bleeding. Let me clean them out.“

He retrieved a first aid kit from his desk and began to disinfect the cuts. "I won’t let anything like that happen to you again. I promise.”

Rem studied the pictures on the walls of the art gallery.

He’d left Hana with Mage in the third library and had decided to take a look at the gallery Shiki had created.

Rem turned his attention to the statue of the crying angel in the middle of the room.

Darkness and depressing thoughts in every corner. This was all that was in her head? These dark, depressing, lonely thoughts? His plan to help her hadn’t helped at all - if anything, repressing it, forcing her mind to ignore it, had probably made them worse, warping it into this. Shiki could only reproduce what he found, after all, in making such an art gallery.

Rem walked out of the room and down the hall.

Urie’s footsteps followed after him.

Black, dark thoughts in every room he glanced in.

He tried a door - locked.

Rem threw his shoulder against it, breaking it down.

The interior was blinding.

White carpet, white walls. Light poured in through a skylight, bathing everything in a golden glow.

These paintings were different. As if a rainbow had exploded all over them.

Paintings from her memory, of her and another girl wrestling together, of her running down a lane lined with flowering pink trees, of her exploring what appeared to be a city in France.

The room was like an island of vibrancy in an ocean of black and white. He’d told her to be happy - apparently his powers weren’t strong enough for that.

The joy in the colors and painting was absolutely entrancing. Buried in all the dark gloominess of the rest of the building, difficult to find, but so beautiful.

This was wrong.It was like intruding on all her most personal thoughts at once. The museum held all her innermost thoughts and feelings and memories. It was like seeing her soul, laid out in a way he could invade and explore.

Rem reached out towards one painting. There was no shape or form - just colors, swirls of vibrant color. How brilliant. How beautiful. How wrong to search around like this in her head. “I’ve seen enough. Let’s go.”


	18. Chapter 18

The library was quiet when Rem re-entered it.

Mage sat at the table, saying nothing. 

Hana lay on the couch, eyes closed.

“Those pills you gave her knocked her out - she’s barely moved since you left.”

Rem walked over to Hana. “You’re both excused for the rest of the day.”

They both left. Urie paused in the doorway. “What are you planning?”

“Go.”

Urie smirked and shut the door.

Rem walked to Hana and sat down next to her on the couch.

Her chest rose and fell peacefully.

If they’d been much longer, what would Shiki had done with her? Rem had noticed her absence the moment he’d entered the student council room. She was always there before him - setting up, cleaning, playing with Roen. He’d waited for half an hour before calling her cellphone, only to find no answer. A quick call to a teacher confirmed that she had left for the Third Library directly after class, and Shiki’s absence had answered the question of what had happened.

He picked up a blanket and pulled it over her, then shifted her shoulders so that her head rested in his lap. A swollen bruise under her eye marked where she’d run into the picture frame on the wall. A half melted bag of ice lay on the floor. Apparently it hadn’t done much good.

Shiki would have probably killed her when he was finished. After he’d put her into whatever he considered a suitable state of despair, he would have tortured her until she died or broke mentally.

A soft exhale escaped her mouth, and a tiny snore.

Thankfully they’d found her in time.

Her hair looked so soft and long.

He glanced down again, checking her eyes were closed, and touched it. It really was very soft. He began to stroke her hair, feeling the ends. It was like rubbing silk.  
It was as if the girl had cast a spell on him. Maybe she was the distance descendant of a succubus, unwittingly enchanting him. Not immediately charming or beautiful, but the sort that grew on him without his even noticing. That sharp tongue and refusal to give up had turned from annoying to familiar to welcome.

A rebellious pawn who didn’t see the chessboard and blundered through it, somehow managing to avoid the traps set for it. Impossible not to care for. Which made her a liability.

Hana moved slightly.

Rem jerked back his hands.

Hana opened her eyes.

She sat bolt upright. “What - oh, I’m sorry!” Hana scrambled up and away from him.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Hana pulled the blanket off of her, glancing around the room as if expecting Shiki to pop out of a corner. “My parents will be wondering where I went.”

“Don’t worry about anything. I’ve made excuses to your parents. You don’t have to leave until you want to.”

She sat back down again.

“I’ll deal with Shiki. He’ll pay for what he did.”

She’d lost her smile now. “Rem, where was that art gallery? There were pictures and things I recognized.”

“It’s nearby.”

She curled up into a ball and pulled the blanket around herself.

“Do you want to go home?”

“I said there had been an incident at school but I didn't give them the specifics.”

“Please, Rem, don’t tell them what actually happened. They’ll just say I’m making it up for attention.”

“Okay.”

She stared blankly at the wall, saying nothing.

The clock ticked on. Darkness set in.

Rem got up and turned on the light. “Hana, do you want to go home? I don’t want to rush you, but your parents will wonder where you are.”

No response.

“Would you like me to tell them you’re at a friend’s overnight?”

“If they believe I actually have a friend who’d ask to stay the night, it’s their own fault for believing it.”

After he made the call, he returned to find Hana still staring blankly ahead.

If only there was something he could do to make that expression go away.

“Do you want to do something, Hana?”

“Like what?”

He considered a moment. “… Play Shogi?"

She nodded. “Please.”

He brought his board over from his desk and carried it over.

Every moment he thought he’d pinned down her strategy, she’d suddenly turn the tables and capture a piece that he’d thought she’d never go for.

“Who taught you how to play?”

“Rinko taught me the basics, but I can’t strategize to save my life.” 

…She had no clue what she was doing. Hard to predict her moves when even she didn’t know what they were. No wonder she kept surprising him.

“What will happen with Shiki?” She moved a piece forward.

“The police arrested him.” A lie, of course. Mage and Urie were… taking care of him. “I can promise you he won't bother you again. Would you like some tea?”

Hana blinked, then nodded.

Rem located the kettle he kept in the bottom drawer of the desk and plugged it into a wall socket to heat up the water.

She watched him with an expression of mild, exhausted interest.

Should he slip her a sleeping pill? No - as much as she needed to rest, she might not benefit from sleep after spending all that time in that nightmarish museum.

He made two mugs of chamomile tea and brought them over to her.

The blanket slipped slightly from her shoulders as she released her grip on it.

She sipped the tea slowly, staring into the depths of her mug.

For someone whose thoughts were like the paintings he’d seen, what must it be like? If only he could read her mind.

“Rem, in that art gallery… there was pictures. Of things and places I knew. A lot of them. And some of it looked like things no one should know about.”

“Don’t worry about that. Shiki probably checked your Instagram or something and took guesses before he added them.” 

“I didn’t have Instagram when some of that stuff came up.” She paused, as if summoning words for something difficult to explain. “Rem… about a year ago, my mother and father took me to Paris. I was in a bit of a rough spot. Barely passing my classes. My parents daily telling me that I was an embarrassment to the family with my hobbies and the way I dressed - I know I don’t dress so nicely or take the best care of my uniform, but I’m always too tired in the morning. One of my brothers was pretending I didn’t exist. And some of the others had told their friends that I wasn’t related to them while I was standing right there. My parents said getting away for a while might ‘give me some perspective’. I was told not to leave the hotel without them - fair enough. But they were never there, and I made it outside maybe twice during the whole trip - it was two weeks long.”  
He would like to have a few words with those parents of hers.

“So, one night, they went to a party and I stayed behind and read a comic book - I think it was Attack on Titan but I really don’t remember, and it doesn’t matter anyway. It was so quiet and peaceful. And I couldn’t stop thinking about how miserable I was. And things kind of spiraled from there. The hotel room felt like a cage. I’m not claustrophobic, but my brain just couldn’t handle it anymore. I ran outside, in the dark, alone. I think I must have gone in a lot of circles because I ended up not far from the hotel.” Hana avoided his gaze, staring fixedly at her tea. “I went out along that bridge and I just looked into the water for a while. The water looked so peaceful. And deep. I climbed up on the edge of the railing. No one was around to see. So quiet. The usual outdoor noises, but it was peaceful. I just stood there, staring down and wondering if jumping into the river might be less painful than going back to that room.”

Rem’s chest clenched.

“That was the bridge in Shiki’s art gallery. But I suppose you guessed that. How did he know?”

“He probably just picked a generic bridge. Coincidence? Or maybe he knew what hotel you stayed at and took a lucky guess.”

“I suppose it doesn’t matter. I stood there for a long time. And I started to slide my foot forward. Maybe hoping that fate would make the choice for me.” One side of her mouth quirked. “I guess it did, in a way. I fell.”

Rem forced himself to not gasp, to not look horrified.

“Well, not into the water, though. Back onto the bridge. For a moment, I thought I had fallen off on the other side. And it occurred to me, in that split second, that all of my problems had solutions. Hard ones, ones I might have to wait forever for, ones that might never happen, but they existed. Except for the problem that I’d just fallen off a bridge. Then my back hit the ground and it knocked the wind out of me. I lay there for a moment, processing what just happened. It seemed to me that I had two choices. Get back up and jump, or go back. I got up and I looked down at the water, then back at the hotel. I thought that things could be fixed, if I got up and I went back. So I did.”

What was he supposed to do? How should he react?

“I got back before my parents did and I lay down in bed. They came in a few hours later, and I was still awake. They were drunk out of their minds, but I just pretended to be asleep. Went home the next day. I won’t ever go back there. I was wrong, though. I can’t seem to fix things.”

Outside, the sky had begun to change to change to grey.

“Do you want to have the day off from school, Hana?”

Hana nodded.

“Then go home. My driver will take you home. I’ll make the appropriate excuses to your teachers.”

“Thank you, Rem.”

“It’s no trouble. It’s my responsibility as student council president.”

“Thank you, Rem. If you hadn’t come - ”

Rem put a hand on her cheek.

Hana’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Don’t think about that. You’re safe now, that’s all that matters. If your imagination wanders, it won’t help you at all.”

“T-thank you, Rem.”

He removed his hand.

Hana stood. “Thank you very much.” She left the room quietly.

Their shogi game had been forgotten. Rem reached down to pick up the board.

It didn’t matter. He’d lost in a very big way. A soft spot for a human… Glax would kill him if he knew. And her too.


	19. Chapter 19

Rem leaned his elbows on his desk.

“I must say, dear friend, you really could have thought through this plan better.” Urie leaned against the desk, twirling his rose. “A sad butterfly is a depressing sight indeed.”

“I didn’t get rid of anything. I just pushed it down into her memory. She doesn’t remember it and she doesn’t know what she’s feeling, so she’s lashing out at little things and storing it all up underneath. Shiki just reflects what’s in someone’s head in that art gallery of his. And she hasn’t been to school for two days. Urie, I told you I let her join because she was useful, right?”

“You were insistent that was the only reason.”

“Her use for us is over. I’m not going to have a treasurer with that many problems.” She was a distraction. Especially if Shiki was going to still be with them. He’d never allow Shiki near her again.

“Are you going to have the school turn against her again?”

“No. That was your idea, remember? I’m going to arrange for her to transfer to a different school - it’ll be easiest for everyone and leave the least traces of what went on.”

“Won’t the school try to reelect a replacement?”

“I’ve made arrangements to deal with that, they won’t try to elect anyone else this time. I borrowed a classmate’s phone and texted her with an invitation to meet me at one of her favorite shops. As long as I don’t leave a trail of evidence, no one will ever find out what happened.” He couldn’t keep having these feelings for her. He wasn’t free to act on them, and they made her too unpredictable of a pawn.

“Rem… are you sure you want to do this? You have started to act very fond of the butterfly.”

“Whether or not I like her doesn’t matter here. She needs to leave.” For both his sake and her own.

Hana smoothed her skirt and glanced around at her surroundings. Still no sign of anyone looking for her.

Usually people didn’t invite her places for any length of time. Except for the boys she went to gaming conventions with once in a while, but they hung out with each other, not her. Classmates never did.

“Hana.”

Hana spun around.

“Rem! What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you.” He grabbed her arm. “I need to talk to you. Alone.”

“I’m waiting for someone, Rem. And why alone?” She twisted her arm in his grip, but he was stronger than her.

He pulled her into the alley between two buildings. “It’s student council business.”

“Rem, the student council president does not corner the treasurer of the student council outside of school in an alley because of student council business.” Her heart pounded.

He smirked and let go of her arm. Then Rem shoved her against the wall, pinning her by her shoulders and bringing his face so close to hers that he could have kissed her.

“Don’t do that.” She blushed and pushed him.

He didn’t even budge, instead releasing her with one hand and cupping her chin. Their eyes met.

Her muscles seemed to relax.

“Hana, I’m sorry things worked out the way they did. You were a great treasurer. It’s a shame school and student council responsibilities worked out the way they did. But with the bullying from the rest of your school, your parents wanted you to leave anyway. It’s okay. His other hand left her shoulder and gripped both her hands. “You’re free from everything that happened at that school. It’s a shame that you fell and hit your head on the pavement and it messed up your memory of everything pertaining to us and to anything magical you ever saw. Just make me a promise.”

Hana's head nodded itself up and down.

“Be happy there. Whatever you do, be happy.”

She nodded.

He let go of her chin and put an arm around her waist, lowering her to the ground. “Go and forget everything about us.” He released her hands, stood, and left her in the alleyway.  
Hana blinked. What had just… her head throbbed. Had she fallen? Why was she here? Hana pushed herself to her feet, leaning against the wall of the alley for support. She walked forward towards the entrance to the alley, then turned for a moment slightly. A brick near where her head had been… had she hit her head?

She glanced over her shoulder at the empty alley and walked into the sunlight.

Rem’s hand hesitated over the enter button on the keyboard.

Her name was typed in the Instagram search bar. He could find her account easily.

He pulled his hand away.

The Third Library seemed emptier without her. Both quiet Hana and happier Hana had been an underrated addition. Also, Shiki’s scribbled accounts were becoming increasingly difficult to read. Maybe he should have switched to doing it electronically like she had wanted.

Rem hit search.

There she was. A new profile picture of her. She sat at her computer, wearing headphones and waving at the camera, a little smile gracing her lips.

He closed the page. Ridiculous. She’d been an annoyance which he had dealt with, nothing more, nothing less. A distraction. He should avoid checking up on her after this.


	20. Chapter 20

Rem’s heart quickened.

Three months until the deadline for finding the Grimoire, and it was already nearly in his hands. Perfect. Glax would be at least satisfied.

“Are you sure about this source of yours, Urie? It was two hundred years ago that they kept it here.”

“You have so little faith in me, old friend. I wouldn’t have made you go to the trouble of traveling to Vienna otherwise.”

The building in front of them was a beautiful old church. Stained glass windows with scenes from the Bible decorated the sides of the building, set among lovely stonework.

“We can’t go in there, Urie.” He fiddled with the navy blue scarf around his neck.

“No, but we can knock.” He raised his fist and pounded against the old wooden door. He jerked his hand away. “That hurt more than I expected.”

The door opened, revealing a man who looked to be in his thirties. “Guten Tag.”

“Good afternoon. Is the priest here? We’re here to see him about something urgent.”

The young man’s face fell. “He died two days ago. He was murdered on his way home.”

“We were looking for an old book we believe to have been in his possession.”

The young man frowned. “Oh. That book.” He stepped over the threshold into the church. “I’ve had all manner of people coming asking, and I’ll tell you the same thing I told them.   
We don’t have the Grimoire and I hope we never see it. Now go away!” The door slammed in their faces.

Rem and Urie exchanged looks.

“I’m not going to be thwarted here.” Rem knocked again.

No response from inside.

“What’s going on?”

Rem spun around.

An old woman glared at him, arms crossed. “You honestly think you’re the first people to come looking for the Grimoire? Honestly, we should put a sign up on the door at this rate.”

“Who else has come?”

“Oh, this strange man with green hair, wearing leather. He left very angry, and the police are looking for him because they think they murdered my nephew.”

“Your nephew?” Urie raised an eyebrow. “My condolences.”

“He didn’t deserve to be murdered over something he had nothing to do with. It was stolen from the church decades ago.” Her eyes blazed. “We had two professors visit us in the nineties, and it was gone the next day.”

Professors? “Professors of what?”

“Folklore or something. We told them we didn’t have it and they left.”

“Do you remember their names?”

The woman shrugged. “There was a nice young man, very polite to me. I can’t remember his name, though. And there was… that person. Professor Kanato Saito.”

Kanato Saito. Saito…

Urie and Rem exchanged glanced. Saito.

“And they stole it?”

“It was there one day, gone the next, and we refused to let them see it. It made sense at the time. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a funeral to arrange.” She walked past them, slamming the church door.

“Well… Saito.”

“Coincidence. It must be a coincidence.”

“Her grandfather was a folklore professor. And his name was Kanato Saito. It would be an impressive coincidence.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I did all the research on her when she was going to be selected for student council. Didn’t you read it all?”

Impossible.

“Well, no matter. What are we going to do now?”

Rem's heart felt... strange. “Hana might know something.”

“She probably doesn’t. Her father, maybe. Not Hana.”

“Hana would be far easier to get the information from. We should try her first.”

“Hana doesn’t know who we are, Rem. That might be problematic.”

Oh. Right. He’d erased most of her memories of them. She might remember them as being the student council. Maybe.

“And I see the vampires have almost caught up with us. That description… it rather sounds like Lord Nesta’s right hand vampire, doesn’t it?”

“We can’t worry about that now. They’re probably tracking down the family right now, looking for Hana.” He fiddled with the ends of his scarf.

“Is this about finding the Grimoire or seeing Hana again?"

“The Grimoire is the only thing important here.”

Urie smirked. “Whatever you say."

"We'll need to approach her carefully, she probably doesn't remember us."

"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of it."

"If you're sure." His heart felt strange again.


	21. Chapter 21

Hana fiddled with the strap of her backpack.

Mom and Dad would have her head if they knew how much she had just spent on video games. Not that she cared. No one cared what did anymore unless it was wrong - now that Grandma was dead, anyway.

It had been quite a job to slip out after the funeral - she was still wearing the dress from the ceremony - but she’d managed it. See, she could do something right, even if her parents didn’t approve. Some would probably consider this behavior extremely cold. Still, life had to go on, didn’t it? Besides, she needed something to lose herself in for a while. 

Her cell phone vibrated in her coat pocket. Hana fished it out to see an incoming phone call. Rem Kaginuki.

A strange, cold feeling settled in her stomach.

She shook it off. Rem was fine. Cold, but he had never been unkind to her.

She accepted the call. “Student Council President. Hello. It’s been a while.”

“Hana.” A short pause. “Hana. Hello.”

A little strange… “How have you been?”

“I’ve been well. You’ve been taking care of yourself?”

“I have.” He was a bit terse, but hadn’t he always been like that? “I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m missing some of the figures from the school festival. Do you have them anywhere?”

“Um… yes, I backed them all up on my computer and didn’t delete them yet. Do you want me to email them to you?”

“No, my computer is actually broken. Could you maybe meet me with them downtown? I’m sorry, but it’s time sensitive.”

“Ok. Actually, I’m downtown now and I can pull everything off my phone. Just in front of the bakery.”

“That’s… perfect. I’ll meet you there.”

Hana glanced around, then stepped inside. At least if anyone noticed she was gone, she now had a viable excuse thanks to Rem.

The girl behind the counter waved. “Hi, Hana.”

The girl was a… first year from Shiko Academy? That sounded right… her name was Retsuko or something? Not Retsuko… Ritsuka, that was the one. “Hi, Ritsuka. Three creams puffs and a green tea please.” School was on the other side of town, so she’d probably have to wait a few minutes for Rem.

“Hana?”

Hana spun around to see Rem behind her. “Oh! Student Council President. Hi. I was just about to start pulling everything off my phone – I didn’t expect you to be here so fast.”

Rem turned to Ritsuka. “Black tea, please.”

They found a seat by the window as Hana began to search through her cell phone.

Ritsuka brought them their tea and Hana’s cream puffs.

“How has the student council been without me, Rem? Shiki getting your math right?”

Rem’s eye twitched slightly. “Shiki is as Shiki has always been.”

So no. Hana pulled up the file on her phone. “Here it is. You sure I can’t just send it to your phone? It would be easier…”

Rem shook his head. “I like having things written down.” He took Hana’s phone and began to write the numbers down on a napkin. “Now…”

Something stirred in Hana’s stomach at that word. She pushed the feeling down as her awareness seemed to melt away into a puddle of warm consciousness.

“Hana… do you know anything about where the Forbidden Grimoire is?”

Hana shook her head. “No…”

“Do you know what the Forbidden Grimoire is?”

“Uh…”

“Was Kanato Saito your grandfather?”

“Mhmm… He was…”

“Are you absolutely sure?”

It felt like something invasive was poking through her thoughts, digging through her memories… but…

“Hana?”

Hana blinked, sitting up straight.

“You spaced out on me.” Rem handed her phone back to her. “Thank you for your help.”

“You’re welcome, Student Council President.” She slid her phone back into her pocket.

Rem picked up his tea and took a sip. “How’s your family, Hana?”

“…I just came from my grandmother’s funeral.”

“My sympathies.”

“It’s… thank you.” She took a sip of her tea, the warmth seeming to calm her thoughts slightly.

They drank their tea, saying nothing.

Hana stood. “I’m sorry, I need to go. It’s getting late and my sister will be wondering where I am. My parents are in Ise City taking care of some legalities with my grandmother’s death.”

“I’m sorry for keeping you so long.”

“No, it’s alright. It was nice to see you, Rem.” Hana stood and tugged at her skirt slightly, then left the store.

The sky had grown grey, stars already starting to show in the sky, and the street was empty.

Her feet hurt from the high heeled shoes she had worn all day. Stupid things. She would have blisters tomorrow, but Mom had insisted.

She limped forward. It would hurt more to walk home without them than with – 

A wave of dizziness hit her and she leaned hard against the wall of a building to keep herself from falling.

“Ah, Butterfly.”

Hana turned to see Urie Sogami walking towards her. “…Sogami?”

Her thoughts felt foggy.

Urie smirked and cupped her cheek, staring into her eyes.

A strange fogginess settled over her mind. Her legs wobbled and she collapsed to the ground, knees hitting the cement.

“Hana?” Rem’s voice was above her. “Urie, what did you do?”

“I made sure she’d be willing to come with us. Don’t tell me you thought either of us would be able to convince her.”

Hana stared down at the pavement, trying to fight down the dizziness. “…Rem? I don’t feel so good… come with you, Urie?”

Rem put an arm around her shoulders and lifted her off the ground into a standing position. “Come on.”

He helped her a few steps forward into his vehicle – how long had that been there? – and she tumbled forward into a seat.

Rem climbed in afterwards, closing the door. He reached across and fastened her seat belt.

“Rem… what’s going on…” Her tongue was like a cement block in her mouth.

“Don’t worry. You’re safe with me.” Rem pushed her hair off her face. “Just go to sleep.”

No… something was wrong. Something was… “Rem… I want to go home…”

“You will.” Rem sat down opposite her and fastened his own seat belt. “Let’s go.”

“Can’t…”

“Don’t worry. Everything is fine.”

“’s not…” She forced her eyes open.

A hand gently rubbed across her shoulders. “Go to sleep, Butterfly. Nothing’s going to happen to you.”

Her vision blurred and went dark.

Something moved across her chest.

Her eyes opened to see Rem pushing her seat belt to the side.

“Rem?”

Rem picked her up out of the seat and lifted her out of the car.

They were in what seemed to be the courtyard of a large house.

“Rem… where am I…” Hana squirmed and tried to reach a hand towards Rem, but it fell back, dangling limply.

Urie’s face hovered over hers for a moment. “Sit still.” He closed her eyelids, leaving her in darkness again. “Urie, this was not what I meant and you know it.”

“You didn’t really specify what you wanted, Old Friend. Besides, it won’t last long, it’ll wear off in about ten minutes.” Urie’s voice seemed far away as the fogginess returned to her mind.


	22. Chapter 22

Something pressed against Hana’s back. Her legs dangled off of… something. Like a couch maybe? Her head throbbed.

She groaned and reached up to touch her forehead, opening her eyes.

Bright light hit and she clenched them shut again. Bright… light... Rem.

She sat bolt upright, glancing around.

Green eyes stared directly into hers.

Hana lurched forward. She fell hard, her shoulder hitting the carpeted floor. Pain shot through her shoulder and arm as she scrambled to her hands and knees.

A hand caught hold of her collar. “Hana, that’s enough.”

Hana twisted around, clawing at him.

Rem caught her hand, pulling it away from him. He knelt down on a level with her.

Hana jerked her head forward, trying to head butt Rem. 

He pulled his face back out of range. “Hana, calm down.”

“Let go of me!” Hana thrashed against Rem’s grip, using her free hand to try to pry his fingers off her wrist.

“Sit. Still.” His gaze bored into her.

Hana froze.

Rem’s grip on her wrist loosened. “Are you okay?”

Had her hands been shaking this whole time? Hana pulled her hand away.

He released her collar. “Did you hurt yourself when you fell?”

Hana shook her head, ignoring the throbbing sensation in her shoulder.

Rem put an arm around her waist tentatively. “Can you stand up for me?”

She tried to obey, but her knees shook so badly she fell back onto the ground.

He sank down with her, tightening his grip on her waist, then hooked his other arm under her legs and picked her up, giving her a good look at the room.

A very nice room - a bit on the expensive side as far as the furnishings went. Two couches sat in facing each other in the middle of the room, a little table in between them. On the table sat a shogi board.

Rem carried her over to the couch and sat her down. He retrieved a grey blanket from the other couch and draped it around her shoulders. “Relax, Hana. I’m not going to hurt you.” He brushed her bangs off her face.

Hana cringed and let out a sob.

He cupped her cheek with one hand, tucking back stray hairs from her eyes. “It’s all right. You’re safe here.” He pulled a handkerchief from his front pocket and dabbed at her eyes.

Safe?

“No one here is going to hurt you.” He sat down next to her, putting the handkerchief back in his pocket.

“Rem, what’s going on? Please, I’ll – ”

Rem put a hand on her arm. “I’ll tell you that when you’re calmer, okay? For now, just know that I’m not going to hurt you.”

Her breath came in gasps. “Rem, I don’t understand what’s going on. Why am I here? What are you going to do with me?”

“Do with you?” echoed Rem. “No one’s going to do anything with you.” He wrapped both arms around her back, pulling her against him so her face was buried in his chest.

A squeak escaped her mouth and she stiffened.

Rem’s arms were also stiff. One of his hands moved up to rub her back. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. I’m not going to hurt you, and no one else here is going to either. Do you remember being on the student council?” His hand continued rubbing her back awkwardly.

Hana sat very still. If she tried to move away, it might make him angry. “It was too much work with school involved, and then I transferred.”

“Do you know anything about a book called a Grimoire?”

“I… don’t even know what that is.” Her voice shook. Wait… wasn’t that a book of magic spells or something? Like the kind witches kept?

“That’s okay. It’s not important right now.”

He was crazy. Absolutely crazy. Still, her life probably depended on humoring him until she could find an escape.

“Just stay here. Sleep if you want. I won’t bother you for a while. When you wake up, I’ll explain everything to you.” He let go of her. “I need to have a room cleaned out for you. I’ll knock before I come in.”

Hana curled up into a ball, pulling the blanket more tightly around herself.

He stroked her hair for a moment.

Her eyelids suddenly did feel heavy.

“There you go.”

She forced her eyelids to lift. They stayed open for a moment, then slid shut.

She was here. She was actually here, in his house, asleep on the couch.

Rem brushed several strands of hair off her face. Somehow less soft than before, and more brittle, like she hadn’t been taking care of herself properly. She’d lost some weight in the past few months as well. Dark shadows had appeared under her eyes again. Her tidy appearance as a student council member had vanished and grown careless. Clearly, she hadn’t been taking care of herself. He’d have to make sure she got something to eat once she woke up, and a change of clothes. The black dress made her look like some kind of corpse.

Rem bent down and slid her shoes off her feet, placing them on the floor next to her. That spell had put her to sleep for a while, he ought to make her comfortable while it lasted.


	23. Chapter 23

Something soft brushed pressed against Hana’s cheek.

She opened her eyes to find herself still lying on the couch. Another blanket had been draped over her while she slept, and a pillow propped under her head.

Hana sat bolt upright, glancing around for Rem. However, the room was empty except for a small Pomeranian sleeping in front of the door.

She stood up and walked to the door, careful not to step on Roen. Someone – almost definitely Rem – had taken her shoes off while she was asleep, and her footfalls were soft in just socks.

She tried the handle, expecting to find it locked. Her expectations were fulfilled.

The room had no windows. Perhaps a she was in basement of some kind. How had she possibly fallen asleep?

Footsteps approached the door. 

“It’s only been three months, how much could have changed?” This voice was familiar… Mage Nanashiro?

Hana backed away, moving back to the couch. She threw the blankets over herself, rested her head on the pillow, and closed her eyes, forcing herself to breath slowly and steadily.

The door clicked open.

“Butterfly? Oh, she’s sleeping.” The male voice lowered and the footsteps softened. “Don’t wake her.” The couch across from her creaked slightly.

Hana fought to keep her breathing soft and steady. If she did, maybe they’d go away and leave her alone.

Fingers brushed against her forehead, brushing her bangs out of her eyes.

Hana gasped in surprise, eyes snapping open.

A boy with ginger hair, dressed in a white uniform, hovered above her. “Oh, you’re awake. Good morning, Hana.”

Hana shot upright, scrambling to her feet.

Urie chuckled and offered her a rose.  
Hana stepped back. “Sogami?”

Mage remained on the couch. He chuckled. “See, I told you not every girl falls for that pansy shtick.”

He turned to glare at the blond, then returned his attention to Hana.

Hana maneuvered herself so that the couch was between her and him.

Urie reached across the couch and took her hand in his. He raised it to his lips and kissed it.

Hana yanked her hand out of his grip. “I’m not one of your weird fangirls, Sogami.”

Mage laughed and stood up, towering over her. “Hey, Hana.” He reached down and ruffled her hair.

Hana jumped back in surprise.

Mage reddened and withdrew his hand.

“What am I here for, Nanashiro?” Hana backed toward the door. Maybe they’d left it unlocked?

Mage shrugged. “Something about the Grimoire?”

As if reading her mind, Urie circled around her and stood in front of the door. “That would be something to talk to Rem about. You know, I think you’ve gotten even more lovely since I saw you last.”

Mage stepped forward, gripping her sleeve in one hand and tilting her chin back with another.

Hana shoved him away. Her heart pounded. “Stop that!” She turned to run, only to find herself in a corner with no escape.

A hand gripped her elbow, spinning her around. Urie cupped her cheek with his free hand. “Yes, definitely.”

Hana pushed him. “Cut that out!”

“What’s going on in here?”

Urie let go of her.

Rem stood behind them, glaring. “Get out and leave her alone.”

“Until later, Butterfly~” They both walked out, Urie winking at her as they left.

“I’m sorry about them. I told them to stay out. Sit down, you’re shaking.”

Hana walked to the couch, knees shaking so badly she could barely move.

Rem crossed the room and sat down next to her. “They didn’t mean any harm.”

Hana pulled the blanket around her shoulders, hands shaking. “They were always both weirdos.”

“Do you want anything to eat? You must be hungry by now.”

Her stomach turned at the idea of food and she shook her head. She crossed her arms and shook her head. “What do you want, Rem? Why am I here?”

Rem turned to face her. “I need you to remember some things that I think you’ve forgotten. When you were on the Student Council, there was an incident where you fell and hit your head, remember?”

“Um, I don’t remember, Rem. Hitting my head messed with my memory of the last couple years, and I don’t even remember what made me fall.”

“You fell outside a store after meeting with me. But there’s some things you don’t remember that I need you to remember.”

“What do you need me to remember?” It was easier to pull out a memory if she had a prompt, something to dig in her memory for.

“It’s complicated, but once your memory comes back it’ll be easier to explain.”

“And this required you to kidnap me?”

“It’s complicated.”

“I have nothing but time.”

The door opened and a woman came in, carrying a tray with two teacups. She set it on the table and left without a word.

“You haven’t had any water in about ten hours. Even if you’re not hungry, you need to drink something. It’s chamomile, you like that right?” He picked a tea cup off the tray.

How did he know what kind of tea she liked? Had they ever had tea together? Her memory was unable to provide an answer.

“I haven’t tampered with it, if that’s what you’re thinking.” 

“Like you didn’t tamper with my tea before to get me here?”

Rem made no response. “I’ll drink from it if you don’t trust me.”

Hana picked up the teacup. No matter how angry she was… she was also thirsty. She couldn’t go without water forever. It tasted normal, if a little sweet for chamomile. Maybe the woman had put sugar into it before she’d brought it in? The tea went down in a few gulps.

Hana set the teacup back down. “I doubt I’m here for you to exchange pleasantries with.”

Rem shook his head. “I always did like how to the point you were. In any case, would you like to play Shogi?”

…Right, Rem was a Shogi nerd, with that board of his that he never let anyone touch. Hana had been curious of it, but if even Urie wasn’t allowed near it, then she certainly wouldn’t have been. “Okay.” It would be best to humor him for now.

The game commenced in silence. Rem said little as he played, and Hana kept her attention on the board.

“Does this feel familiar? At all?” he asked after a few minutes.

“Not really.”

Rem fell quiet again.

The door creaked open and a Pomeranian trotted into the room.

“…Can I pet him?”

Rem shrugged. “If you want.”

Hana held out a hand. “Here, boy. Good boy.” The puppy sniffed her hand.

“His name is Roen.”

“Here, Roen?” Hana patted her lap.

Roen leapt into her lap, turning around once before settling down.

Hana stroked his ears. “Aren’t you the cutest thing?”

“…it’s your turn, Hana.” Rem seemed put off by the dog’s presence.

Hana made her move and returned to petting Roen.

“I don’t remember you ever mentioning a dog?” She scratched him behind the ear with one hand and stroked his back fur with another.

Rem sighed.

The Pomeranian licked her hand. Hana giggled.

The sensation was… familiar?

Hadn’t she met this dog before… in the Student Council Library? Somewhere… she’d been crying… why couldn’t she remember the reason?

Rem’s hand touched hers. “Hana?”

She stood up suddenly. Roen jumped out of her arms and onto the couch. “Rem, does Roen spend time in the Third Library sometimes?”

“…Yes. Did you see him there?”

“I think so. Rem…”

“What else do you remember?”

Hana shook her head. “Nothing, nothing, just Roen.” Her heart raced. Roen felt… familiar. This game felt… familiar.

“Do you – ”

“I don’t remember anything!” Hana stepped back, away from the table and from Roen and Rem.

Rem kept his distance. “What else is there?”

Hana knelt on the floor. Her breathing grew increasingly unsteady.

Rem moved off the couch to kneel opposite her. “Breathe with me.” He took a few long, slow breaths.

Hana copied him.

“I think that’s enough for now.” Rem motioned towards her arm. “May I?”

Hana nodded shakily.

He slid his arm through hers, helping her to her feet.

Hana’s knees wobbled and he steadied her with his other hand. “I’m sorry, that was too much for you.” He leaned her against him, helping her to walk through the door. “I’m going to take you to your room now.”

“…My room?”

“I can hardly ask you to sleep on the couch.”

The room in question was a small bedroom with no windows. A bed, piled high with pillows and blankets, sat against the farthest wall. A closet was set into the wall.

Rem walked her over to the bed and sat her down. “Are you okay?

Hana took a deep breath. “You kidnapped me and my brain feels like it’s going crazy. Am I? Am I crazy –”

“It’s alright, Hana. Don’t worry about anything. You’re safe here.” He touched her hand.

Hana pulled her hand back with a squeal.

“Sorry.” Rem returned his hands to his sides. “Do you want to be alone?”

Hana nodded, burying her face in her hands.

“I’ll go then. I’ll be back in an hour or so, at dinnertime. There’s some clothes for you in the closet, and a shower if you want.”

Hana nodded.

Footsteps sounded, and then a door closing. A lock clicked.

Hana counted to three, inhaled, counted to three, exhaled. It was Rem. Rem might be cold and unfriendly to nearly everyone, but he wasn’t sadistic or anything.  
At least, that was what she’d thought before today. Before he’d drugged and kidnapped her.

Now would be the perfect time for some animal sidekick to show up and offer her powers to become a magical girl or something. It would be worth even having to deal with Madoka Magica levels of danger, if only she wasn’t completely helpless to do anything.

The atmosphere of the house was almost oppressive, in some way. Like something evil lived there, hiding in the basement.

Hana shuddered and stood from the bed. Helpless though she may be, there was no reason for her to just passively accept that she had to stay here.


	24. Chapter 24

"Three days?"

“That’s what my father said.” Rem stared at his Shogi board, considering the next move and pondering his next move. Lord Glax didn’t know about Hana, but he did know there was a lead, and he wanted results. If they didn’t get any, they would have to force them out of her mind, a process which would involve damage to her brain – the best case scenario was a vegetative state for the rest of what would be her very short life.

“She’ll never remember in three days.” 

“It is unlikely.” Especially if the tea that Urie had prepared to counteract the effects of Rem’s magic wasn’t working. It was slow working at the best of times, taking up to a week at others.

“And it would be such a shame to hurt such a pretty butterfly.”

“She’s just a pawn. It doesn’t matter.”

“Doesn’t it?” Urie raised an eyebrow. “Or have you developed a soft spot for such a lovely human girl?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Urie. I don’t want to sacrifice a pawn so early in the game. Forcing it out would destroy her mind and turn her into a shell of a person. That’s hardly a useful move if I don’t have to make it. What would attract me to such a creature anyway?”

“That stubborn personality. That smile. That kindness. They fought a ten year war over Helen of Troy, after all.”

“Hana’s a pawn, nothing more.” That and Helen of Troy probably wasn’t real, even if Troy had been attacked several times during its history.

Urie made his move. “Then you won’t mind if I add her to my collection after this is over?”

“She’s my pawn, to use as I like.” Rem’s grip on the piece in his hand tightened.

“But when we’re done. I want to add her to my collection. When she has no further use to her, can I have her?”

Rem set his piece down harder than strictly necessary. “I will not see her passed around like a used toy.”

Urie smirked. “That’s what I thought. Something about her appeals to you very much, and the sooner you admit that, the sooner we can get along with figuring out what to do with her.”

Rem straightened up from his seat on the couch. “She does interest me. That’s all.”

“And that’s all?”

Rem moved a piece forward and said nothing.

“But you don’t want her to be hurt, do you?” Urie raised an eyebrow. Clearly, he’d guessed the answer ages ago.

Rem pushed the piece forward. “Your move.”

“Let me talk to her tomorrow morning. I think I might know how to bring her memories out. She might not know anything, you know.”

“If she doesn’t, we can just erase her memories and let her leave.”

“Anyway, it’s time for dinner. I’ll bring her.”

“I suppose we’ll have to pretend to be humans still?” Urie made a disgusted face. “We already eat it once a day at school. Must we really do it three times a day now?”

“Yes. Human food isn’t that bad, Urie.”

“Unless it’s mushrooms.”

Rem glared and said nothing.

No sound came from inside Hana’s room. Rem knocked on the door. “Hana? Are you decent?”

No response came from inside.

“Are you getting changed?”

Still no response.

“Hana? If you don’t answer me I’m going to have to come in.” He knocked again.

Still no answer. Maybe she’d fallen asleep, but it wasn’t worth risking it to leave her alone.

He unlocked the door and pushed it open. “Hana?”

A heavy object collided with his skull.

Rem staggered back several steps from the blow. That was hard enough to do serious damage to a human, easily enough to knock them out at any rate.

Hana stepped in front of him, wielding a heavy wooden rod. Where had she even gotten that? Was that the rod for hangers from inside the closet?

“Hana, put it down. Now.”

Hana swung it again.

Rem caught it in his hands and ripped it out of her grasp.

Hana yelled in surprise and stumbled forward, landing in a heap on the ground.

Rem threw the rod to the side.

Hana was up in a flash, fists flying.

He dodged her punch easily and grabbed her, pinning her arms between them.

Hana kicked him in the shin.

Rem sat down, dragging her down with him. He twisted her around in his grip and hooked his legs overtop of hers to keep her from kicking him again. “Hana, I told you none of us were going to do anything to you.” His words were cut off by the back of Hana’s head striking him in the face. Rem tightened his grip, moving one of his arms up a bit to keep her from being able to use her shoulders.

Hana’s whole body shook. She twisted hard to one side, breath coming in short gasps.

“Hana, I can keep you in this position all night until you calm down. Just calm down and stop trying to attack me.” Her hair pressed against his nose. “I told you that none of us were going to hurt you, and I still mean it. Just breathe.”

Her breathing came in even more ragged sobs and she kept thrashing around.

He stood and picked her up, still kicking and trying to scratch at him.

He carried her to the overstuffed chair in the corner of the room and sat her down.

Hana curled up into a ball, covering her head with her arms as if expecting to be struck.

Rem backed away into the farthest corner of the room.

Gradually, her ragged breathing slowed and her shaking lessened.

Rem crossed the room again, slowly.

Hana watched him warily, likely expecting him to jump at her at any moment.

Rem pulled his handkerchief out of the pocket of his coat and handed it to her. “It’s time for dinner. Let’s try that again. You get changed and come out whenever you’re ready.” 

He walked to the door. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to going to walk in on you or something like that.”

She nodded and sniffled.

Rem closed the door behind himself, but didn’t lock it.

She was terrified of him. The poor thing. He didn’t blame her for trying to get out.

Five minutes passed. Ten minutes passed. Urie and the others would be looking for them if they didn’t come soon.

The door behind him groaned.

Hana stood in the doorway, staring at the ground. She wore a light pink sweater and a grey skirt. Standing in front of him in borrowed clothes, arms crossed defensively across her chest, eyes fixed on the ground, she seemed more fragile, somehow. Even for a human.

Little did she know of the deadline, ticking away with the clock.

Rem reached down and took her chin in his hand, tilting it upwards. “I told you that no one would hurt you here. I meant that. Come on, you must be hungry.” He released her chin and offered her his arm.

Hana timidly took it. It shook slightly in his grip.

Nothing would happen to her while he was able to prevent it.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, would you look at that, I'm not dead and I'm actually posting something.

Hana stared down at her plate, avoiding eye contact with everyone else at the table.

Rem sat at the head of the table, with Hana on his right hand side. Urie sat across from her, next to Shiki. Mage sat next to her.

“Hey, I told you not to bring that up again!” roared Mage at Shiki.

“Hehe, did you?”

“Aren’t you going to eat anything, Butterfly?”

Hana jumped slightly, glancing up at Urie. “I - er…”

“We’re not planning on poisoning you or anything like that.”

“I never said that.”

He grinned and reached across the table with his chopsticks, picking a piece of fish. “Then eat it.”

Hana’s cheeks burned. “I…”

“Come on.” He took her chin in his other hand. “Say ‘ah’.”

Rem’s hand shot out, smacking Urie’s hand away. “I’ve told you this before, and I won’t tell you again. You are not allowed to touch her like that without her permission.”

Urie put the fish down and returned his hands to his side of the table.

Rem glared at him for a moment, then turned a softer expression towards Hana. “I do want to see you eat something though.”

Hana nodded and picked up her chopsticks.

The smell of fish reached her nose. Her stomach turned at the idea of putting it in her mouth. They might have drugged it or something.

Rem watched her expectantly.

She picked up the piece of fish that Urie had dropped, placing it in her mouth, then put her chopsticks down.

Rem didn’t press the issue. “Come with me.” He stood and offered her his arm.

Urie raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

Hana stood and took it, her knees shaking.

He led her out of the room and back to the living room where she had originally woken up.

“Sit down.”

Hana released his arm and sank onto the couch.

The door clicked shut, leaving Hana alone.

She let out a breath.

Something soft brushed her leg. She looked down to see Roen sniffing her shoes.

“Oh! Hello there, little guy.”

The dog jumped up into her lap and whined.

“Aren’t you a sweet boy?” She stroked the dog’s head. “Most friendly thing about this place. Is Rem really trying to help me, Roen? Or does he just want me to lower my guard? Probably that last one. He wants something from me, I don’t know what it is. But I’m not going to just let him have it. There’s something weird going on around here.” The sense of something evil never quite went away, it seemed to hang on the air.

The dog sprang up suddenly and started licking her face and neck.

“Hey, that tickles!”

The dog jumped off her lap.

Hana giggled. “Silly boy.”

The door squeaked.

She turned in her seat to see Rem enter again, carrying a tray with some food on it.

“Would it be easier for you to eat in here?”

“I’m sorry?”

“They don’t exactly make for a peaceful environment. I thought maybe if you had somewhere more quiet to eat you might be more inclined.”

Hana shook her head. “I’m not hungry.”

Rem set the tray down on the table in front of her. “You haven’t eaten since this morning, and you’ve barely had any water. I know your appetite probably isn’t very big right now, but I don’t want you to get sick.”

He wasn’t wrong. But the idea of eating food made her stomach churn.

She picked up the glass of water. Two sips and it was gone.

Rem poured more from a pitcher. “Eat what you can.”

Hana picked up another piece of fish and put it in her mouth, forcing herself to chew and swallow.

Rem walked to the other side of the room and began to inspect a bookshelf.

Hana put another piece in her mouth, chewed, and swallowed. She sampled a bite of the rice.

Rem turned around, glancing at her plate, then returned his attention to the books.

With her parents preparing for Grandmother’s funeral, she’d been cooking for herself, which was mostly instant foods with little to no nutritional value. This was probably the closest thing she’d had to an actual meal in two weeks. And her appetite was so small she couldn’t make herself eat another mouthful.

She poured herself more water. “Rem? I don’t think I can eat any more.”

Rem returned, eyeing her plate briefly. “Alright.” He returned to the other side of the room, sitting down next to her on the couch.

“Rem, you said you needed something from me? When I remember, can I go home?”

“Of course.” Rem put a hand on her arm. “Over the next day or two, I’m going to try a few things to trigger your memories – I might ask you to do some things that are a little strange, but I won’t ask you to do anything unsafe.”

He’d already drugged her and kidnapped her. His definition of safe was not necessarily trustworthy by her standards.


	26. Chapter 26

A gentle tap sounded on the door. “Good morning, Hana.”

Hana sat bolt upright in her bed, memories of the day before flooding her memory.

“Are you awake?”

“Y-yes.” How had she even slept?

“Are you decent?”

“Yes.” Rem had left her a pair of pajamas in the closet. White with tiny blue and yellow butterflies printed on them. How had he guessed her size, anyway? Or maybe it was Urie. Probably Urie, judging from the butterfly pattern on them and the style of the clothes in the closet. The clothes were all very feminine, and they all looked like styles that would suit her. Rem didn’t seem the type to put that much care and attention into something like that.

Rem pushed the door open. “I just wanted to tell you that breakfast is ready whenever you are.”

“Okay.” She pulled back the blankets and climbed off the bed. “I just need to get dressed.”

He closed the door.

Hana kept a sharp eye on the door as she changed. If he tried to come in, she would at least have a bit of warning.

As much as she hated to admit it, the handful of clothes in there were more or less styles she would have picked of her own accord, or would have looked at enviously in a store. Urie was far more likely to have chosen them. 

She walked over to the door and tried the handle. It swung open to reveal Rem.

He offered her his hand.

Hana took it.

He led her down to the dining room, where food had been laid out.

Hana sat down opposite him at the long table.

“It’s just us this morning. The others are at school.” He poured her tea.

“Don’t you have to go to school?”

“The student council president has every right to feel ill every once in a while.”

The smell of sausage normally would have made her mouth water. Now it produced nothing. Maybe, now the others were out of the house, he had put something in her food.

“At least eat something. Being weak from hunger won’t help you.”

Hana picked up her fork and obediently tasted the meat.

Rem ate his food slowly, watching her as she slowly picked at the food.

She set down the fork.

Rem set down his as well. “You’re done?”

Hana hesitated. She’d only had a sausage.

“I don’t want you to force yourself.” Rem stood and walked around the table to her.

Hana stood, stepping back a few paces.

Rem chuckled. “There’s no need for that, Hana. Come with me.” He took her hand, gently gripping her fingertips.

He led her down a hall, up a staircase, and down another hall. Hana tried to memorize the path they had taken - the more she knew of her surroundings, the better.

He led her into a small library. In the middle of the room was a table with a Shogi set on it. Light streamed in through an enormous window. She hadn’t seen the sun in a day…  
She walked past the table to the window. Spreading out around the house was a wide, carefully tended lawn. A wall with a large metal gate. Beyond that, houses. People. It took every ounce of self control she had not to bang on the glass and shout for help. But no one would see her.

Something brushed against her arm.

Hana jumped, spinning around to see Rem standing at her elbow.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

Hana took a step back.

He gestured to the Shogi board. “I thought we could play Shogi. Though if you’d like to look out the window, you can do that too.”

“No, thank you.” She walked over to the table and sat down.

He began the game.

Rem was very good at Shogi. Incredibly good, even. He seemed to predict her every move before she made it, backing her into corners, keeping her plans constantly on the move… not that her plans amounted to much. She had never been much good at Shogi.

“Hana… I hate to ask this right now, but does anything about this feel familiar?”

The same question as yesterday? “No…”

“I suppose that wasn’t to be expected.”

Hana’s gaze wandered over the books on the shelves. Most of them were written in letters she couldn’t read. “Do you like chess too?”

“Not really. Though I like having the queen piece. It’s a powerful piece to use. And you can get them back if you lose one, you know? If you get certain pieces across, you can actually change them out for queens.”

“Really?” She’d played chess before, but she’d never heard that before. If she ever got out of this house, she was going to give Rinko a piece of her mind for not telling her about that.

“It makes me - ” Rem stopped himself. “You know, I’d like some tea.” He knelt and pulled something out from underneath the table. A well used electric kettle.  
With how expensive everything in this mansion was, didn’t he have… servants aside from the one lady she’d seen the day before? Or friends aside from the Student Council at least?

“I’ll be back in a moment.”

He walked around behind a bookshelf.

Hana glanced around. Should she try to make a break for it? The door was over there and unlocked.

She forced herself to sit still. Rem might be back at any moment. He was in a good mood at present, and until she had a better chance to get away she should keep him that way. 

She studied the board, checking for Rem’s weaknesses.

Rem returned. “Water’s just warming up. Your move, I believe?”

She moved a piece. Should she win, or should she lose? She was in a position to do so. But would it make him angry, or would he laugh it off?

Rem moved a piece.

Hana moved, testing the waters before she jumped in.

Rem raised an eyebrow. “You never fail to surprise me.” He moved his king out of check. “But a queen is best for checkmating a king, isn’t she?”

“Shogi doesn’t have queens.” Heat rushed to her face as she realized what he’d meant. “I… uh…” An uneasy feeling built up in her stomach. Calling her a queen, what was that supposed to mean?

“Check.” Rem pulled his hand back from the board.

He’d made her flustered to distract her. Jerk. She slid a piece forward. “Checkmate.”

Rem’s face froze.

Hana’s stomach dropped. A poor decision.

“I see you’re better at this than I had previously thought.”

“I…” 

He stood up. “The tea’s ready.”

She had made him angry.

He walked away.

Hana stood as well, legs shaking. She walked to the window and sank down in front of it. “Stupid,” she muttered to herself. “Stupid.”

Rem poured the tea, forcing himself to keep back a smile.

So cute. What a precious expression she had when she was flustered. Red to the tips of her ears, her eyes wide with embarrassment… Beating him at Shogi had been an unexpected twist. She was his queen, though, even if she didn’t know that yet - and probably never would. A queen was best put to use in checkmating a king.

And many would use her to do just that, if the opportunity arose.

He put the two cups of tea on a tray. She liked her tea black, didn’t she? He grabbed a small plate and put some biscuits on it. Maybe something smaller would get her to eat. It was almost lunch time, after all.

He forced himself to stop smiling, to hide his expression again. It wouldn’t do for Hana to know about his feelings. Not until she remembered who he was. In which case she probably wouldn’t want to be with him anyway.

He carried the tray back. “Hana?”

She knelt by the window, shaking hands pressed against it. “Stupid stupid stupid - ”

“Hana?”

She spun around, her face white. “I - ”

“Is something wrong?” He set the tray down on the table.

She avoided his gaze.

“I’m not - Hana, I’m not angry that you beat me. I’m just not used to losing and it surprised me. I’m sorry if I made it seem like I was.” He walked across the room and knelt down in front of her.

His father would have been enraged to see him like this, kneeling, being gentle with a human who he could have simply taken what he wanted from. Glax would kill him on the spot if he found out the extent of his feelings.

“Hana - I won’t hurt you.” Rem considered for a moment. A wrong word might make her even more terrified. She probably thought he was going to assault her - physically or worse - if she said the wrong thing. “I promise that, while you are in this house, no harm will come to you. While you’re here, I promise I will protect you from anything that tries to hurt you, I will make sure that you are safe, and I will make sure you are cared for.”

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What do you mean by that?”

This wasn’t a path he could go down. He stood and walked towards the window. She wasn’t responding to anything. Maybe, if he brought her back to the Student Council Library, where so many things had happened to her… “Hana, would you like to go outside for a bit?”

Hana blinked in surprise. “I’m… sorry?”

“I want to pick up some things from the Student Council Library.” He offered her his hand. “Would you like to accompany me?”

Hana frowned, but took his hand.


	27. Chapter 27

Hana kept her hand near the door handle for the whole car ride, but Rem’s gaze remained focused on her and allowed her no moment at which to pull it and run.

“Why did you ask me to come, Rem?” she asked as they pulled up in front of the school.

“I don’t doubt you’ll try to get away, but I thought the Student Council Room might help you remember. The school is technically closed today.” He got out and walked around, opening Hana’s door for her and taking her hand. “If you see someone here, don’t try anything. Understood?”

Hana swallowed hard and nodded.

Rem led her up the steps and into the school.

Hana fought down the urge to run. A better opportunity would present itself eventually.

Rem led her up the familiar stairs, leading up into the student council room. He closed the doors softly behind them.

“Sit down at the table, I’ll only be a minute.”

Hana sat down in her old seat and folded her hands in her lap, watching Rem search his desk.

He returned a moment later with the papers, setting them down on the table. “Do you remember us talking to you about your student council duties after you were elected, Hana?”

“Yeah.” Her cheeks went hot. “I tried to stand up too quickly and hit Mage with the back of the chair by accident.”

Rem seemed oddly dissatisfied with this answer, but said nothing.

“I have to get some books from the shelves too. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Hana sat still and waited as he retreated into the bookshelves.

He’d expect her to make a break for it now. She forced herself to sit still and not bolt for the door.

Rem returned with the books a minute later. “Now that I’ve got what I came for, let’s sit dow for a minute.” He took her hand and walked her to one of the couches, sitting her down. “Would you like tea?”

“Please.” There was sometime she’d been on this couch, something important had happened… never mind that now.

Rem turned to face her. “Does anything here remind you of anything?”

Hana shook her head. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. None of this is your fault.” Rem stood and walked away, returning a minute later with two mugs of tea.

That had gotten hot quickly. He must have started it earlier.

Hana sipped at her tea. “Rem, can you tell me what I’m supposed to remember? Give me some idea? It might be easier that way…”

Rem shook his head. “The brain can construct memories easily. If I tell you and you try to remember, then your brain might create a memory that isn’t real.”

Fair enough. Hana took another sip of the tea, then set the mug down on the table. “What happens if I don’t remember, Rem?”

“You will eventually. Don’t worry.”

“Rem, doctors couldn’t make my memories return over several months. With all due respect, how can you make them come back over several days?” What if she couldn’t remember even in a couple months? What if they kept her there forever? “What happens if I don’t remember? What are you going to do with me?” Her legs moved before her brain could make a decision, carrying her towards the door.

A hand caught her wrist, pulling her back.

Hana squealed in panic.

Rem pulled her against his chest, muffling her voice. He put an arm around her, trapping her arms between him and her, and began to stroke her hair.

Hana went still. The sensation of Rem’s hand stroking her hair was oddly relaxing. A sense of calm worked over her senses.

Rem released her. “Let’s just play Shogi again for a while.”

Hana nodded.

Rem closed the door on Hana’s bedroom and sighed. Nothing at all that day had sparked any memory of anything, it had only made her more confused.

“Fed up?”

Rem turned.

Urie leaned against the wall. “Let me spend the day with your precious pawn tomorrow. I’ll have everything from her by the end of the day.”

“And how do I know you’ll treat my pawn like she’s my pawn, and not one of your butterflies?” The thought of Urie treating Hana as one of them made Rem’s blood boil.

Urie chuckled. “Because your face tells me everything I’ve been wanting to know about you and her.”

Rem glared at him. “You can talk to her tomorrow.”

“I’ll have everything you need to know by the end of it.”


	28. Chapter 28

A floorboard creaked.

Hana’s eyes shot open.

Urie stood in the center of the room, holding a tray. “Good morning, Butterfly.”

Hana sat straight up, memories of the day before flooding her mind. “G-good morning.”

Urie crossed the room and placed the tray in her lap. “I brought you your breakfast.”

“Thank you.” She stared down at the food. Rice, fried pork, and egg.

Her mouth watered and her stomach growled. She reached for the chopsticks.

“What did Rem tell you about using that hand, Butterfly?”

Hana blushed and reached out with her other hand.

“No need for that.” Urie took them and picked up a piece of the meat. “Say ah.”

Hana sat back in surprise, cheeks burning. “I…” Her voice squeaked. “I’m perfectly fine using my right hand, Urie.” Just because she was left handed didn’t mean her right was useless either.

He frowned and pulled his hand back. “As my butterfly wishes. Rem is tending to some business this morning, so he told me to keep you company.”

Hana picked up the chopsticks and picked up some of the rice. “What do you mean, keep me company?”

“We can hardly leave you to your own devices, can we, Butterfly?”

“My name is Hana.”

“Butterfly suits you better.”

Whatever that was supposed to mean. She picked up a piece of the pork.

Urie sat on the edge of the bed and watched her as she finished.

When she finished, Urie picked up the tray and set in on the bedside table. “I’ll be outside while you get dressed. Unless you want some help?”

Hana flushed. “I’m quite capable of doing it myself.”

“Then I’ll leave you to it.”

Urie looked her up and down the moment she stepped out the door. “You look wonderful, Butterfly. Now close your eyes.”

“Why?” Hana stayed a few steps away from him. It would give her a moment to react if he tried to try anything.

“What, are you worried I might try something while your eyes are closed? I promise I won’t - I don’t have to.”

Hana shuddered and kept her eyes open.

Urie sighed and took her wrist, covering her eyes with his other hand. “Now walk this way.”

Hana obeyed, her legs shaking. Rem said none of them would do anything to her. Rem said none of them would do anything to her.

“Watch out, there’s stairs ahead.” Urie helped her to walk down the stairs. “We’re almost there.”

A door clicked. Damp grass soaked through her socks.

“Only a little further.”

“Where are we going?”

“Sh.”

A door clicked.

His hand moved away from her eyes.

Hana stood inside what looked like a greenhouse. Trees and flowers surrounded her on every side.

“Where is this?” She glanced behind her through the glass door, but it was too blurry to see anything outside.

“This is my Eden.”

Okay then.

She followed him through the trees and flowers.

This situation was completely and utterly bizarre.

He led her into a clearing with some tables and a gazebo.

He sat down with her at one of the tables. “You know, I don’t think you’ve ever been in here before.”

Hana shook her head.

“Usually I have more butterflies here, but they’re all in school right now.”

Hana made no response to this.

Urie reached across and took her hand. “Butterfly, do you remember anything about any of us?”

She shook her head, resisting the urge to pull her hand away.

“A pity.” He reached across and cupped her cheek with his other hand.

Hana stiffened. “What are you doing?” She forced herself to stay still, rather than move away as she wanted to.

“Only enjoying the company of Rem’s little butterfly.”

“Rem’s little butterfly?” The words made her sick to her stomach.

“Now, now. I only meant that Rem has quite an interest in you.”

She pulled her hand away.

“You know, I always liked you. You would order Mage and Shiki around all the time. Not even Rem could get them to clean up after they finished. It took you yelling at them. You have a very special place in his heart.” He leaned in far, far too close. “Don’t break it.”

Hana swallowed hard.

“He doesn’t realize it yet. He might not without some help.” Urie’s hand remained on her cheek.

Hana pulled away, standing up. “Urie, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Urie stood up as well. He was a good deal taller than she was.

Hana took several steps back. Now she’d made him mad. Whoops.

He matched her step for step.

Hana’s legs shook.

“I don’t expect you to have any idea. A human girl as… innocent as you. You have no idea how much power those sweet little eyes of yours really have when you turn them on the right subject.” He caught her arms and stared into her eyes.

Hana stood very still.

“You have no idea just how very much he wants you. He simply doesn’t know it himself. He lies to himself and make excuses, and of course you wouldn’t know how to respond. Nor do you remember him…”

Hana took the opportunity and kicked him in the groin.

Urie yelled in surprise and released her.

Hana sprinted off down the path towards the exit.

Her feet pounded across the dirt path.

Urie’s footsteps came steadily behind hers. He wasn’t running, yet he seemed to be moving faster than she was, catching up.

Hana put on a burst of speed. They hadn’t walked that far before, had they? Those trees, had they been there before?

Her calves ached and she cursed her lazy attitude towards exercise.

She dove off the path between the trees and dropped to her knees, crawling underneath some underbrush.

Footsteps slowed and drew closer along the path.

“Hide and seek, Butterfly?” Urie sounded vaguely amused. Twigs nearby snapped.

From her position she could only see leaves and branches. Hana closed her eyes and held her breath.

“There you are.” Something tugged at the back of her shirt. “Stand up, Butterfly.”

Hana’s heart sank and she opened her eyes. She looked up to see Urie’s yellow eyes staring back.

“You’ve got leaves all over you.” He pulled her onto her feet.

Hana’s knees wobbled and she staggered against him.

Urie chuckled and steadied her. “Hold still.” He began to pluck leaves from her hair.

Hana stared at the ground, focusing her attention on her feet, on the grass on her feet, anything but on the hands in her hair.

“Better.” Urie put a finger under her chin. “You have such pretty eyes. May I see them?”

Hana complied, lifting her chin but keeping her gaze on the ground.

Urie chuckled. “So stubborn. No wonder Rem’s fallen for you.” He began to brush the leaves from her shirt, working from her shoulders, hand getting closer and closer to her chest.

“Um… I can do it myself.” She took a step back and began to pull them off herself. Pervert.

“If you wish.” He stepped around behind her. “I’ll get the ones on your back – it would seem your skirt is the type of fabric to snag on leaves, Butterfly.”

“I can do it without your help!” snapped Hana, spinning around and shoving him in the chest. “Stop that! I know you too well, Sogami!”

Urie chuckled. “You’re adorable when you’re angry.”

“Urie, that’s enough.”

Hana twisted around in the direction of the voice.

Rem stood a short distance away, glaring at Urie. “I thought you said you had some way to make her remember.”

“Did I?” Urie chuckled.

Hana backed away, heading deeper into the trees.

Urie took a step towards her.

“Urie.” Rem’s tone was a warning. “Leave her alone. Now.”

“Until later, Butterfly. Don’t forget what I told you.” He walked away into the trees, leaving the two alone.

Rem walked forward, stopping a few feet away. “Did he hurt you?”

Hana shook her head.

“Come on, let’s go back to the house.” He took her hand and walked her back towards the path.

Rem forced himself to loosen his grip on her hand. He might bruise it - it was so hard to tell, sometimes, how much strength to use with humans.

Hana’s hand shook.

“What did Urie say to you, Hana?” He pushed aside a low hanging branch.

“He said some strange things about you…” Her cheeks turned red. “And that I was ‘innocent’. And he kept trying to come up with excuses to touch me....” Her cheeks grew even darker at this statement.

Knowing Urie, 'innocent’ probably hadn’t been intended as a compliment.

“Ignore what he says. He says a lot of things that don’t make sense.”

“You don’t say.” Her voice trembled.

“Why was he chasing you?”

“I…” She burst into tears.

He should have never allowed the two to be alone together.

Rem let go of her hand. What did humans do in circumstances like this?

He wrapped his arms around her in a hug. That had seemed to work before.

Hana tensed up.

Rem picked her up, carrying her bridal style. “It’s okay. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” He’d wring the information of the incubus later.

Hana nodded, shaking like a leaf. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

He carried her to the greenhouse door. Urie stood in front of it on the other side.

“Close your eyes for just a second, Hana.”

Hana obeyed, tears still rolling down her face.

Rem walked through the door and teleported back to the house.

“You can open them now.”

He walked the few remaining steps to the back door and let himself in.

He carried Hana up the stairs and down the hall to her room.

He set her down on her bed.

“I want to go home…”

Rem sat down next to her. “I’m sorry.” Why did it have to be her? Any other girl, he would have taken the memories without hesitation. Why this one?

He cautiously placed an arm around her waist.

She stiffened.

He pulled it away. His presence in the room was probably very unwelcome.

Rem stood up and left.


End file.
